Air quality has a limited impact on migrants’ willingness of hukou conversion. While in cities with lower city tiers, migrants with settlement intention are less willing to obtain local hukou in the destination. This effect is increasingly significant for destinations from southwest to northeast China. It is found that migrants with settlement intention have a strong incentive to obtain local hukou in destination cities with high administrative levels and city tiers in the northeast, east, and middle China.

Considering administrative dimension, socio-economic dimension, and environmental dimension, this study focuses on migrants with settlement intention and examines the impact of administrative level, city tier, and air quality on their willingness of hukou conversion, using questionnaire data collected in 334 cities in 2017.

It is significant to understand how contextual factors in destination cities affect migrants’ willingness of hukou conversion. Hukou reform and relevant policies are being implemented in current China, but the response of migrants to hukou conversion in destinations falls short of expectation.

Yicai global city tier definition