Mapped: Where Americans Are Moving To and From 

Fewer Americans packed up and moved across state lines last year than at any time since record keeping started in the 1970s—a major shift driven in part by wary homeowners deciding to stay put.

The State of the Nation’s Housing 2025 report, released last week by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, found that in 2024, roughly 8.3% of American households—equivalent to 10.9 million—reported moving over the past year. That figure was flat with 2023 and down from 9.8% (12.6 million) in 2019, predating the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Meanwhile, the number of homeowners who relocated in 2024 plunged to an all-time low of 3.1%, down from 3.7% the year before and 4.3% six years earlier. This decline translated into 24% fewer moves by homeowners in 2024 compared with the pre-pandemic era.

During the pandemic, there was an unprecedented surge in remote work opportunities, which allowed millions of Americans to move from pricey coastal metros like New York City and San Francisco to more affordable cities and towns in the South and West. Florida and Texas attracted the most transplants from out of state.

Florida and Texas are seeing major ups and downs

The Sunshine State has experienced some of the most dramatic ups and downs in domestic migration over the past six years. 

Florida’s net domestic migration rate increased from 6.5% in 2019 to 8.1% in 2020, according to U.S. Census Bureau data analyzed for the report.

In the years that followed, Florida’s in-migration rate climbed to 11.4% in 2021 and peaked at 14.2% in 2022. 

The following year, the rate dropped to 8.2%, and in 2024, it nosedived to 2.8% as Florida found itself hamstrung by rising home prices and insurance costs, a tighter job market, and a higher cost of living.   

The Lone Star State’s net domestic migration rate followed a similar trajectory, steadily growing from 2019 to 2021, reaching a high point of 7.4% in 2022, before plummeting to 2.8% last year.  

Not unlike Florida, Texas also has seen a spike in housing costs and the cost of living, making it a less attractive destination for some would-be migrants.

Elsewhere in the U.S., South Carolina‘s net domestic rate stood at 12.52% last year, down from 15% in 2023.

During the same period, Alabama welcomed more than 26,000 new arrivals, representing an in-migration rate of 5.07%—a slight decrease from 5.9% a year ago. 

In the Western U.S., Idaho’s domestic migration rate ticked up from 7.5% in 2023 to 8.3% in 2024, representing nearly 16,400 new transplants. 

Across the border in Nevada, the state’s net domestic migration rate doubled in the span of a year, jumping from 2.6% in 2023 to 5.2% last year, which saw nearly 16,900 newcomers. 

South is seeing in-migration slowdown

Although interstate migration was the primary engine of population growth in 11 states, mostly located in the South, in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Estimates Program, net gains from migration dropped in some of these states.

For example, Tennessee saw an annual drop of 20% in domestic migration net gains, while North Carolina experienced a decline of 17% from a year ago.

Unsurprisingly, as in-migration cooled in some of the hottest pandemic-era destinations, out-migration also eased in states that had experienced the biggest population losses during that time.

The outflow of residents from California dropped by 30%, from 344,000 departures in 2023 to fewer than 240,000 in 2024.

Similarly, New York lost 121,000 people on net to interstate migration in 2024, down about 30% compared with 2023, when 177,000 residents left the Empire State—and 60% less than in 2022.

On a related note, 2024 also saw a slowdown in migration out of urban centers, which had reached a fever pitch during the pandemic.

Net moves from densely populated metros like New York City retreated for the third consecutive year in 2024, down 17% annually.

Meanwhile, net moves into suburban counties fell 16% in 2024, as gains in smaller metro markets and non-metro counties edged down by 12% and 31%, respectively, over the past year.

“Nevertheless, net domestic migration into non-metro counties and smaller metropolitan areas remained elevated relative to pre-pandemic levels, continuing trends that started in 2021, due in part to increases in remote work and retirement moves by baby boomers to more rural areas,” notes the report.

Return to pre-pandemic trends

Realtor.com® senior economist Jake Krimmel points out that overall domestic migration has been on the decline since at least the 1980s, and the pandemic-era boom in interstate mobility “was the exception, not the rule,” he says.

“Over time, housing has become more expensive in the country’s highest-paying job markets, and job switching across regions has become less common,” explains Krimmel.

Economists call this phenomenon “a decline in labor market fluidity,” meaning fewer people are making long-distance moves for work, especially if similar opportunities exist closer to home.

However, the pandemic housing and job markets were a notable deviation from the norm. Low interest rates, a booming job market, and the rise in remote work sparked a flurry of moves across metros, as workers traded expensive and cramped coastal cities for more space and lower prices in the South and West.

“As with all exceptions to rules, some return to trend was in order, which is exactly what we have seen over the past couple of years,” says Krimmel.

Migration flows into states such as North Carolina and Tennessee have now slowed as home prices and interest rates soared, narrowing the affordability gap with traditionally more high-priced states.

“Moreover, life in big-city job markets like San Francisco and New York City has returned to normal: Workers have returned to office and lockdown is over, so arts and culture are back,” adds Krimmel.

“Again, the push factors are gone, and the pull factors away toward the Sun Belt are not as strong. Overall, domestic migration patterns are largely reverting to the slow-moving baseline we have seen for decades.”