Fewer than half of migrant workers would prefer to stay in the cities they have moved to, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

The survey, jointly released by People's University and gzhong.cn, offers an interesting insight into the lives of those who move around the country often to find work.

Some 46.2 percent of migrant workers who responded to the survey would like to stay in the city they have settled, while another 23.3 percent said they would prefer to live in other cities.

A large portion of 2,473 respondents, 80 percent, said they feel kindness from city residents, 35 percent said they feel fully accepted by the city and 40 percent said they feel basically accepted.

There are 240 million migrant workers who are from rural areas work in cities, according to official statistics released in May 2011.

"Migrant workers play multiple roles and they undertake the cost of social transformation directly, including social cost and psychological cost," said Sun Jianmin, head of the survey team.　

In terms of migrants workers' feeling of happiness, Beijing ranks 14th among all the 20 cities surveyed, Shanghai 18th and Quanzhou, a small city in Fujian province, topped the list.

"Happiness is not directly related with a city's economy. In big cities, people are not as kind to each other as in small cities. Also work demands are higher and some are beyond migrant workers' abilities," said Hu Ping, another member of the survey team.

"Those migrant workers aged between 18 and 23 have their own dreams but can't find ways to accomplish them. They can hardly enjoy the public services though Beijing provides many," he added.