Americans are always on the move, and the latest PGM data gives us a clear look at where everyone’s heading. In 2025 alone, nearly 15 million adults packed up and moved — more than 4% of the adult population. North Carolina and Texas rolled out the welcome mat for the most new residents, while California and New York saw more people leaving than arriving.
HireAHelper dug into the numbers to see which states gained the most new residents, which ones saw the biggest exodus, and where people landed when they crossed state lines.
Karen Bodkin is a writer at HireAHelper who's passionate about helping people navigate their moves with less stress and more confidence. She empowers readers by turning the many overwhelming parts of moving into clear, actionable guidance.
Karen draws from a broad writing portfolio that includes home improvement, health, and travel. Her work reflects a deep understanding of life's transitions and a genuine drive to make moving feel more manageable for everyone.
*This analysis is based on PGM's database of 14,977,223 adult moves tracked for the full year of January 2025 through December 2025. Unlike other studies restricted to lagging census releases or modeled estimates, this exclusive dataset captures real-time relocation activity over the past 12 months. This provides a unique, high-fidelity lens into U.S. migration patterns that is unavailable through public channels.*
Net migration is the simplest way to measure whether a state is gaining or losing people: total moves in, minus total moves out. A positive number means more people moved into the state than left it; a negative number means the opposite. It's one of the clearest signals of where Americans are choosing to build their lives and where they're choosing to leave behind.
In 2025, 27 of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. (about 53%) saw positive net migration, while 24 (about 47%) lost more residents than they gained. The map below shows exactly where each state landed. Hover over any state to see its total net migration for the year, from the biggest gainers in the South to the biggest losers along the coasts.
The five states with the biggest total net migration gains in 2025 — Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama — are all in the South, and they share a few common traits: growing job markets, heavy state investment in attracting new businesses, and a lower cost of living than the major coastal markets many new residents are leaving behind.
Two of the five, Texas and Tennessee, have no state income tax at all, which is a major draw on its own. But the bigger story across all five states is economic momentum: every one of them posted record or near-record numbers for new jobs and capital investment in 2025, which means the migration gains and the economic growth are feeding each other.
Texas added 68,318 residents through domestic migration in 2025, more than any other state. As the country's second-most-populous state, even modest percentage shifts show up as huge raw numbers. But the appeal is still real: a massive job market, a wide range of major metros, and no state income tax. Texas added more nonfarm jobs than any other state in 2025 and set new records for the size of its labor force, according to the governor's office.
South Carolina gained 41,548 residents in 2025, the second-largest total gain in the country. The state's Department of Commerce reported $9.12 billion in capital investment and more than 8,100 new jobs in 2025, its third-highest year for industry recruitment on record. That economic momentum, paired with relatively affordable coastal and suburban communities, makes it an easy sell for people leaving pricier states.
North Carolina added 30,947 residents in 2025, placing it third in the country. Much of that growth centers on Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham, and the Research Triangle, where job markets in finance, tech, and health care keep expanding. The state recorded more than 35,000 announced job commitments and over $24 billion in new capital investment in 2025, according to the North Carolina Department of Commerce.
Tennessee gained 30,457 residents in 2025 — close enough to North Carolina's total that the two are nearly tied for third place. The state has no income tax, and Nashville has become a magnet for corporate relocations. Companies invested more than $11 billion in Tennessee and committed over 9,000 new jobs in 2025, according to the governor's office.
Alabama rounded out the top five with 18,491 new residents in 2025. The state has leaned hard into recruiting manufacturing and pharmaceutical investment, and it's paying off. Alabama logged a record $14.6 billion in capital investment and 9,388 new job commitments in 2025, according to the Alabama Department of Commerce — the highest annual total in state history.
The five states with the biggest total net migration losses in 2025 — California, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Maryland — are all large, economically significant states that still attract plenty of newcomers. But in every case, more people left for other states than arrived from them, and the reasons for that are similar as well: housing costs that have outpaced incomes for years and high overall tax burdens.
These aren't new or temporary trends, either. State-level reports from California, New York, Massachusetts, and Maryland all point to multi-year patterns of residents leaving for cheaper housing markets, and several of these states have commissioned their own studies specifically to understand and respond to the outflow.
California lost 98,568 residents to net migration in 2025, the largest total loss of any state. That means more people moved out of California than moved in, not that the state’s total population is necessarily shrinking. A state can lose residents through domestic migration and still maintain or grow its overall population through births and international migration.
California's own Department of Housing and Community Development has acknowledged the state's housing challenges as significant and continues investing in affordable housing production. Even so, the state still has one of the largest economies in the world and continues to attract newcomers.
New York lost 55,905 residents in 2025, the second-largest loss in the country. Affordability is a major factor, especially in and around New York City — the New York State Comptroller has reported that housing affordability is a real barrier for young adults, with many renters spending more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities. And nearby states like New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut are absorbing a lot of that outflow.
Massachusetts lost 26,475 residents in 2025, continuing a trend state officials have been tracking closely. Massachusetts has been ranked as having the second-highest cost of living in the country, according to the state's own housing data. Median home prices are up 73% since 2000, and incomes have barely kept pace. That gap is pushing residents, especially younger adults, toward cheaper states like New Hampshire and Florida.
Illinois lost 18,398 residents in 2025, and taxes are consistently named as the top reason people give for leaving. An analysis from Illinois Policy found that high taxes are the No. 1 reason residents cite for moving out of state, and that 95% of people who left Illinois in 2024 moved to states with lower tax burdens.
Maryland lost 16,931 residents in 2025, rounding out the bottom five. A 2025 report from the Maryland Comptroller's office found the state has been losing a net average of about 40,000 residents a year to states with lower housing costs, with Florida, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina among the top destinations.
Net migration per capita takes the same total net migration number — moves in minus moves out — and adjusts it for the size of a state's existing population. It does not show which state gained or lost the most people overall. Instead, it shows where migration gains or losses are having the biggest impact relative to population size.
This distinction matters because population size can mask many crucial findings. A state with 40 million residents can lose tens of thousands of people and barely register a shift, while a state with under a million residents can see that same raw number completely reshape its housing market and labor force. The map below shows each state's net migration per 10,000 residents — hover over any state to see how its rate compares to the rest of the country.
The five states with the highest net migration per capita in 2025 — South Carolina, Idaho, Delaware, Tennessee, and Alabama — overlap heavily with the states leading in total gains, but the order shuffles once population size enters the picture. Idaho and Delaware jump into this top five despite modest total numbers, simply because they're starting from a much smaller population base.
What ties all five together is the same mix of affordability and economic opportunity that shows up in the total rankings, just felt more intensely. A few thousand new residents can meaningfully reshape housing demand in a state with under two million people in a way it never would in Texas or California.
South Carolina led the nation in net migration per capita in 2025, gaining 79.7 residents for every 10,000 people, which is more than 15 points ahead of the next-closest state. The state's Department of Commerce reported $9.12 billion in capital investment and more than 8,100 new jobs in 2025, and with a smaller population than its Southern neighbors, that growth shows up disproportionately in the per-capita numbers.
Idaho gained 63.2 residents per 10,000 in 2025, the second-highest rate in the country. But growth at this scale isn't new for the state. In fact, Idaho grew its housing stock by 12.3% between 2020 and 2025, the second-highest rate in the nation, according to the governor's office. That kind of supply growth, paired with relative affordability compared to West Coast metros, keeps drawing people in even as in-state housing costs climb.
Delaware gained 54.5 residents per 10,000 in 2025, the third-highest rate in the country, packed into one of the smallest populations in the U.S. Delaware's recent population growth has been driven primarily by people moving in from other states, according to USAFacts, helped along by the state's lack of a sales or estate tax and its location within easy reach of Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.
Tennessee gained 43.6 residents per 10,000 in 2025, the fourth-highest rate in the country. This influx is likely due to the state’s lack of income tax, and Nashville continues to attract corporate relocations and tech investment. Companies invested more than $11 billion in Tennessee and committed over 9,000 new jobs in 2025, according to the governor's office — a lot of growth for a state with a comparatively modest population.
Alabama rounded out the top five with 36.6 new residents per 10,000 in 2025. Alabama logged a record $14.6 billion in capital investment and 9,388 new job commitments in 2025, according to the Alabama Department of Commerce, with growth reaching well beyond its biggest cities and into rural counties.
The five states with the lowest net migration per capita in 2025 — Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, and California — share the same underlying pressures as the states with the biggest total losses: high housing costs and a steep cost of living. But the order looks different once population size enters the picture.
Washington, D.C., is the clearest example. It didn't even crack the bottom five in total losses, but its lower population means a comparatively modest exodus shows up as by far the steepest rate in the country. In contrast, California lost more residents than any other state in total, but with nearly 40 million residents, that loss barely dents its per-capita rate next to smaller states facing similar pressures.
Washington, D.C. lost 89.6 residents per 10,000 in 2025 — more than double the next-closest state. The driver is specific and well-documented: the District's own Office of the Chief Financial Officer found that federal agencies cut a net 22,356 jobs in D.C. in 2025 after accounting for new hiring, with most of the affected workers holding a bachelor's degree or higher. With roughly a quarter of D.C.'s workforce tied to the federal government, that kind of disruption hits the population hard relative to its size.
Massachusetts lost 37.9 residents per 10,000 in 2025, the second-steepest rate in the country. Massachusetts has been ranked as having the second-highest cost of living in the country, according to the state's own housing data, with median home prices up 73% since 2000, while incomes have barely kept pace — pressure that falls hard on a state with a relatively small population to begin with.
New York lost 28.2 residents per 10,000 in 2025. Affordability is the clearest driver, especially around New York City. The New York State Comptroller has reported that housing affordability is a real barrier for young adults, with many renters spending more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities. New York's large population keeps it out of last place, but the rate is still steep enough to land it in the bottom five for both lists. .
Maryland lost 27.4 residents per 10,000 in 2025. A 2025 report from the Maryland Comptroller's office found the state has been losing a net average of about 40,000 residents a year to states with lower housing costs, and it's more expensive to own a home in Maryland than in nearly every state it's losing residents to.
California lost 25.1 residents per 10,000 in 2025 — the lowest rate of the bottom five, even though it lost more total residents than any other state. California's own Department of Housing and Community Development has acknowledged the state's housing challenges as significant and continues investing in affordable housing production. With nearly 40 million residents, even a historic total loss only moves the per-capita needle so far.
Population changes matter because they affect how communities plan, build, and pay for services. Rapid growth can strain a community’s ability to build enough housing, expand infrastructure, and fund services fast enough to keep up. Outmigration can create the opposite problem, leaving some states and cities with a smaller tax base to support schools, roads, public services, and long-term economic development.
Net migration is not permanent or one-directional. Plenty of people still move into California and New York every year, and plenty of people leave Texas and Florida. But when the same patterns repeat over several years, they can shape whether a state’s housing, infrastructure, and budgets are catching up to growth or trying to manage the effects of population loss.
In the fastest-growing states, the immediate pressure point is housing. Idaho, for example, grew its housing stock by 12.3% between 2020 and 2025, the second-fastest rate in the nation. Even with that construction pace, years of rapid inbound migration can keep pressure on home prices and rental markets.
South Carolina and Tennessee face a similar dynamic. Both states are attracting new residents because they started out more affordable than many coastal markets, but fast growth can narrow that affordability gap over time. Local governments also have to expand school capacity, water and sewer systems, roads, and other public infrastructure fast enough to serve the new residents moving in.
Taxes are another reason net migration matters, because migration also moves income. An analysis of IRS migration data by the Tax Foundation found that California lost $23.8 billion in adjusted gross income to interstate migration in the most recent year of available IRS data. New York lost $14.1 billion, Illinois lost $9.8 billion, New Jersey lost $5.3 billion, and Massachusetts lost $3.9 billion.
At the same time, Florida, Texas, North Carolina, Arizona, Tennessee, and South Carolina each gained billions in adjusted gross income through interstate migration. IRS migration data lags by about two years, so it reflects a slightly earlier period than PGM’s 2025 figures. Even so, it points to the same broader pattern: when people move, they bring or take income with them, and that can affect state budgets, local services, and long-term planning.
To examine the U.S. migration patterns, we analyzed PGM's proprietary database of 14,977,223 national moves recorded between January 2025 and December 2025. Each move in this dataset represents an actual relocation, providing a uniquely current perspective on the mobility trends of adults.
Our analysis focused on:
Unlike many studies that rely on outdated U.S. Census Bureau releases or modeled estimates from relocation calculators, this dataset reflects real moves as they occurred. As such, it represents one of the most up-to-date and reliable sources of migration data available in the United States in 2025.
This migration report used in-depth consumer insights from data provider PGM, part of the Porch Group of companies. PGM's robust audience data helps businesses reach customers strategically.
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Karen BodkinJul 20, 2026