Although we are steadily getting a better understanding of why regional population decline occurs, little is known about the causes of differentiated levels of decline between municipalities in the same region. In this paper we address the causes of intra‐regional differentiation in decline in the Dutch region Southern‐Limburg. The quantitative and qualitative analyses reveal that in the 1900‐1945 period, differentiation in population development was the result of economic boom and bust in the mining areas. After 1945 (except for 1985‐1989) however, the economic argument lost much of its relevance: intra‐regional differentiation has primarily been the result of intra‐regional and international migration and these flows are steered predominantly by life course motives, the uneven spatial distribution of housing opportunities and access to these opportunities within the region.