This paper examines the effects of residence in metropolitan areas and migration from nonmetropolitan areas to metropolitan areas on the earnings of American Indian and Alaskan Native householders aged 25–54. The results indicate that: (1) the earnings of metropolitan Indians are markedly higher than those of nonmetropolitan Indians, but the earnings of nonmetropolitan-to-metropolitan migrants are very little more than those of nonmetropolitan stayers; and, (2) the difference in earnings between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan Indians is due to better opportunities in metropolitan areas and to the interaction between these opportunities and the higher levels of human capital of metropolitan Indians.