AT A GLANCE
- Texas supplied more new residents to other states than any state in the country, according to new 2024 migration data from the U.S. Census Bureau, despite also leading the nation in population growth.
- Texas was the top source of new residents for nine states, including California, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, largely due to its size and population scale.
- Other highly populated states — California, Florida, and New York — showed similar out-migration patterns.
- In most states, international migration remained the largest source of new residents in 2024, before immigration crackdowns under the second Trump administration, with several Midwest and Plains states as notable exceptions.
Census Data Shows Texas Is the Top Source of Movers Nationwide
Texas supplied more new residents to other states than any other state in the country, even as it continued to post the largest population growth this decade, according to newly released figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The 2024 state-to-state migration data show Texas was the top source of new residents for nine states: Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Oklahoma. The data track where people lived in the previous year compared with where they currently reside, offering a snapshot of domestic migration patterns across the country.
Texas, now home to roughly 31 million people, ranks second in population nationwide and added 2.1 million residents between 2020 and 2024 — more than any other state during that period. Demographers say the state’s sheer size plays a major role in why it also leads the nation in out-migration.
“The obvious and primary answer is size,” said Dudley Poston, professor emeritus of sociology at Texas A&M University. “There’s got to be more people leaving Texas than leaving other states because of the population size of Texas.”
Other heavily populated states showed similar patterns. California, Florida and New York also ranked among the nation’s largest suppliers of residents moving to other states. California, the most populous state with about 39 million residents, was the leading source of new residents for several western states, including Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Texas and Washington. It was also the top domestic supplier to Tennessee, a trend tied in part to Nashville’s growing connections to Southern California’s entertainment industry.
Florida, now the third most populous state with roughly 23 million residents, dominated migration flows into southeastern states such as Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina, and also sent the most new residents to Ohio. Since 2020, Florida has gained 1.8 million residents, second only to Texas in overall population growth.
Researchers say population size explains much of the movement, but economic pressures also appear to be influencing decisions. Rising real estate prices and escalating homeowners’ insurance costs in Florida, combined with expanding job markets in cities like Atlanta and Charlotte, may be pushing some residents to relocate.
“It is no longer as affordable a relocation/retirement option as it once was,” said Richard Doty, a research demographer at the University of Florida.
New York was the top source of new residents for Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts and New Jersey, while Illinois supplied the most movers to neighboring Midwestern states including Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin. Many of the migration patterns followed long-established regional trends, such as Massachusetts residents relocating throughout New England and North Carolinians making up the largest share of new South Carolina residents.
“The states with the largest out-migration numbers — California, Florida, Texas, and New York — are also the states with the largest populations,” said Helen You, interim director of the Texas Demographic Center. “Large populations naturally generate large volumes of both in-and-out migrants.”
In most states during 2024, people arriving from foreign countries were the largest source of new residents, prior to the immigration crackdown under the second Trump administration. Exceptions included states such as Idaho, Kansas, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming, where domestic migration from other U.S. states outweighed international arrivals.
The Census Bureau is expected to release updated population estimates next week, which will provide a clearer picture of how population trends shifted nationwide in 2025.
