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This article focuses on the impact of seasonal migration on economic stratification and inter-personal relations within a migrant community in a rural Mexican town. Contrary to widespread popular belief, a significant number of Mexican migrants work only temporarily in the United States and then return to their homes in Mexico to spend their earnings. With increased U.S. migration during the late 1950s and early 1960s, however, many migrants began investing their U.S. earnings in local land, resulting in a significant rise in the number of resident landowners. Yet, while migration clearly enabled more residents to buy land than would otherwise have been possible, the benefits for townspeople were far from uniform. The emergence of an open economic system, together with the disparities in wealth it created, brought about profound changes in the pattern of social relationships within Guadalupe. As is the case throughout much of rural Mexico, interpersonal relations among townspeople were based on a system of reciprocity and exchange.