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The object of the article is an analysis of the way in which the family relates to its location influences the decisions of workers between “residential anchoring” and migration when faced with the relocation of their company. The analysis is based on a qualitative enquiry concerning mainly unskilled workers faced with the closure of their factory in the department of Aisne and its relocation two hundred kilometres away from their usual place of residence in the department of Yonne (France). It shows that in addition to the economic and professional factors, the different forms of spatial relations and family bonds have an effect upon the resources that can be called upon and upon the relationship to territory and to housing. The analysis takes account of the connection between the ties to family territory and a refusal to move, of choosing “residential anchoring” or definitive migration or even dual residence. The importance of family territory explains geographical choices which could appear at first sight economically irrational.