Charting the Course: U.S. Migration Trends of 2021 - Part 1
Unpacking Migration – A Significant Shift
Greetings, readers! Today, we're delving into the fascinating dynamics of U.S. migration trends in 2021. Approximately 7.9 million Americans embarked on a life-changing journey, relocating to different states. This represents a notable increase compared to 2019. Influences such as the COVID-19 pandemic and emerging work trends played a part, but one thing is clear - our nation is on the move.
Turbulence and Transition: The Big Picture
Recent data from the Census Bureau revealed a surprising uptick in inter-state moves in 2021. We saw nearly 7.9 million Americans change states—an increase of around half a million compared to 2019. The main actors on this bustling stage? States like Florida, Texas, California, North Carolina, and Georgia. The forces behind these moves seem to range from pandemic-induced delays to new work-from-home realities.
In 2021, migration was largely to the South and West from high-cost states.
Zooming in: Regional Insights
Let's take our magnifying glass to the regional level. We'll find intriguing shifts and patterns—from the South drawing residents from across the U.S., to significant in-region movements such as Californians heading to the rest of the West. Movers generally fall into three categories: those seeking cost-efficient living with the help of remote work, those drawn by the growth of the Sunbelt's boom towns, and those seeking warmer climes, primarily in Florida.
International migrants largely chose to live in the Northeast, Florida, Texas, Illinois, and California.
Delving into Details: By Region
Northeast: Notable outflows from states like New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Maryland, mainly to other northeastern states and the South.
Midwest: Illinois and Minnesota witnessed substantial outflows, with neighboring states and southern regions like Florida drawing the crowds.
South: High inflows across the board, but especially to Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, and Texas. Interestingly, Louisiana was the only state with a net outflow.
West: High outflows from California and Washington, balanced by high inflows to other Western states.
The International Angle
In 2021, the U.S. welcomed over 1.4 million people from abroad—a refreshing surge after a period of decline. Let's unpack this further:
The most attractive states for international migrants were California, Texas, Florida, New York, and New Jersey.
Eight states (including Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, D.C., Maryland, New Jersey, Washington, and Nebraska) saw international migration outpace domestic outflows.
Thirteen states had international in-migration exceeding domestic in-migration, indicating their appeal to foreign newcomers.
The remaining 22 states experienced stronger domestic in-migration, possibly propelled by work-from-home trends and lower living costs.
In the dance of demographics, 2021 was a whirlwind year. The interplay between domestic and international migration, shaped by factors like economic shifts, pandemic influences, and remote work trends, created fascinating patterns. Stay tuned for the next installment of this series where we'll dive even deeper into this subject.
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Notes
Data analysis is based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey.
Population change of a locality is comprised of two components: migration and natural change. This data analysis exclusively reviews patterns in migration.
Net migration is a concept that looks at how many people moved into a state minus how many moved out.