Mapping Interstate Migration

September 29, 2016 Alex

Table of Contents

The source of the most residents born out-of-state
California-born residents outside California
The U.S. states by net domestic migration

Birthplace of U.S. citizens by state from 1850 to 2020
- Percentage of a county’s population born in the U.S. state where the county is located

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Millions of U.S. citizens migrate between states every year. These migration movements are affected by many factors, including job possibilities, housing prices, taxes, and climate.

According to Internal Revenue Service data, about 3 percent of households moved to another state in 2018. People are mainly moving out of the Northeast and Midwest to the South and West, but they are also leaving California. The map below shows the source of most residents born out of state.

The source of the most residents born out-of-state

Over the past year, about 200 thousand people left California, followed by New York (-180 thousand people). As you can see on the map above, many out-of-state residents in eastern U.S. states (Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia) and California hail from New York on the East Coast. Californians make up the largest number of out-of-state residents in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington.

In the past couple of years, California has been losing more people than its gained, but there has not yet been something extreme. The state is losing many residents because of how huge it is (almost 1 in 8 Americans live in California). The map below shows the percentage of California-born residents outside California.

California-born residents outside California

Below is the list of U.S. states by annual net migration (the total number of people moving to a U.S. state from a state minus people going to another state from that state) based on the Census Bureau’s data.

The U.S. states by net domestic migration

Rank	State	Total net domestic migration	Net domestic migration rate per 1,000 inhabitants
1	Florida	133,910	6.23
2	Texas	125,660	4.33
3	Arizona	91,017	12.5
4	North Carolina	67,338	6.42
5	South Carolina	53,034	10.3
6	Georgia	49,680	4.68
7	Nevada	43,207	14.03
8	Washington	37,476	4.92
9	Tennessee	36,009	5.27
10	Colorado	31,335	5.44
11	Idaho	27,360	15.31
12	Oregon	25,821	6.12
13	Utah	15,588	4.86
14	Alabama	9,387	1.91
15	Delaware	6,961	7.15
16	Maine	6,613	4.92
17	Montana	6,024	5.64
18	New Hampshire	4,469	3.29
19	Indiana	3,997	0.59
20	Oklahoma	3,822	0.97
21	Arkansas	2,515	0.83
22	South Dakota	964	1.09
23	Minnesota	65	0.01
24	Vermont	−682	−1.09
25	Missouri	−710	−0.12
26	Wyoming	−1,012	−1.75
27	North Dakota	−1,267	−1.66
28	Wisconsin	−1,438	−0.25
29	Kentucky	−1,541	−0.34
30	New Mexico	−2,136	−1.02
31	D.C.	−2,203	−3.12
32	Rhode Island	−3,215	−3.03
33	Nebraska	−4,220	−2.18
34	Iowa	−5,011	−1.59
35	West Virginia	−7,073	−3.95
36	Virginia	−9,136	−1.07
37	Alaska	−9,482	−12.96
38	Mississippi	−10,740	−3.61
39	Kansas	−12,357	−4.24
40	Ohio	−12,916	−1.10
41	Hawaii	−13,817	−9.76
42	Pennsylvania	−19,588	−1.53
43	Connecticut	−22,059	−6.19
44	Maryland	−23,665	−3.91
45	Michigan	−23,670	−2.37
46	Louisiana	−26,045	−5.60
47	Massachusetts	−30,274	−4.36
48	New Jersey	−48,946	−5.51
49	Illinois	−104,986	−8.28
50	New York	−180,649	−9.29
51	California	−203,414	−5.15

Birthplace of U.S. citizens by state from 1850 to 2020

States of the Midwest and the South of the United States have the lowest percentage of people born outside the states. The map below created by Reddit user beltzy shows where Americans were born from 1850 to 2020.