Texas Ranked No.1 for Inbound Migration in the U.S. Last Year... California Leads in Outbound Migration

Aggregated Based on US Postal Service Address Change Data
Migration Due to Low Taxes, Affordable Living Costs, and Mild Weather

Texas, the state with the highest number of inbound moves to the U.S. last year. Photo by Pixabay

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] Statistics have shown that the state with the highest inbound migration in the US last year was Texas, while the state with the highest outbound migration was California.

On the 18th (local time), Illinois policy-focused media 'Illinois Policy' cited a recent article from the economic media 'Forbes,' revealing that the top three states with the most inbound migration in 2021 were Texas, Florida, and South Carolina, while the top three states with the most outbound migration were California, New York, and Illinois.

This data was compiled by Forbes based on address change data submitted to the United States Postal Service (USPS). According to USPS data, the population of Texas increased by 12,700 over the past year. Forbes noted that "many people moved from neighboring liberal-leaning states to conservative Texas," citing low tax burdens, a strong economy, affordable living costs, and mild weather as Texas's advantages. Florida, ranked second, was analyzed to have attracted population inflow due to its tax policies, housing prices, mild weather, and relatively lenient COVID-19 regulations. South Carolina, ranked third, was noted for similar conditions to Florida along with abundant greenery. Following these, the states with high inbound migration included North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Nevada, Maine, Delaware, and Idaho.

Despite California's advantages such as a Mediterranean climate and being a hub for high-tech industries like Silicon Valley, it lost as many as 101,000 households last year. Reasons for outbound migration included high housing prices, rising taxes, political leanings, and some residents leaving due to wildfire risks and high inflation. New York, ranked second in outbound migration, lost 75,000 households last year. Analysts attributed this to New Yorkers exhausted by soaring living costs and tax increases, who left the state while working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Illinois, ranked third, saw 29,000 households leave.

'Illinois Policy' interpreted that "all ten states with high inbound migration have lower tax rates than Illinois, and four of them have no state income tax at all," adding that "tax burdens are pressuring Illinois residents to relocate." Furthermore, it cited an analysis by the economic media Moneygeek, which combined property tax, income tax, and sales tax rates for median-priced homes and median-income families nationwide, showing that Illinois has the highest tax rate in the US, with residents paying 16.8% of their income in taxes.

Following Illinois, the states with significant population outflows included Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Washington, Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Meanwhile, the number of permanent address change requests submitted to USPS in 2020 increased by 3.3% from the previous year to about 10.2 million, and the number in 2021 remained almost the same as in 2020. Forbes cited annual data from the moving company 'United Van Lines,' reporting that for several years, the top reason for moving was work. However, from 2019 to 2021, work-related moves decreased by nearly 19%, while moves to live closer to family increased significantly. Moves to be closer to family lagged work-related moves by more than 41% in 2015 but have increased by nearly 13% since then, now differing by only 0.7% from work-related moves. Moves due to retirement and lifestyle changes also increased by 5% compared to 2015, and such moves are expected to continue rising as the number of retirees grows annually.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.