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Here are the top states people moved to, and from, in 2023

By Kelly Hayes
Published  December 2, 2024 9:19am CST
Real Estate
Fox TV Stations
article

FILE - Inside new home construction in Cape Coral, Fla. on July 29, 2024. (Photo by Thomas Simonetti for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The Brief

    • The U.S. South attracted the most people to its region last year, "largely led by more affordable conditions and opportunities."
    • The 2024 Migration Trends report by the National Association of Realtors showed that southern states like Florida, Texas, and the Carolinas were big winners.
    • 42% of moves were driven by housing reasons, followed by family reasons (26%), employment reasons (16%), and climate-related reasons (1%).

The U.S. South attracted the most people to move to the region last year, according to a new report shared by the National Association of Realtors. 

The 2024 Migration Trends report, released last week, shows that southern states like Florida, Texas, and the Carolinas were big winners in domestic migration patterns – "largely led by more affordable conditions and opportunities."

RELATED: Here's what the housing market will look like in 2025

Here's what to know:

Reasons why people moved

According to the report, also citing U.S. Census Bureau data, 42% of these moves were driven by housing reasons.

Another 26% cited family reasons, 16% for employment reasons, and only 1% moved due to climate-related reasons.

2025 U.S. real estate predictions

Zillow predicted a more active market with additional inventory for 2025, giving buyers more room to negotiate. However, homebuyers should expect some turbulence with fluctuating mortgage rates, even as more homes become available. Alana Mann, President of The Statesman Group of Companies, joined LiveNOW from FOX to discuss.

Top 10 states with largest net migration

Florida, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia rounded out the top five states that had the largest net migration in 2023. 

Tennessee came in at No. 6, followed by Arizona, Alabama and Oklahoma. Ohio rounded out the top 10 and was the only state north of the Mason-Dixon Line to land on it, after drawing in a net migration of 28,718.

According to the Census Bureau, the South, the nation's most populous region, is the only region to have maintained population growth throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The growth is largely attributed to migration, with 706,266 people added via net domestic migration.

Where people moved from in 2023

California, the nation's most populous state, shed 75,423 people last year, according to the report. 

In 2023, Hawaii (-4,261), Illinois (-32,826), Louisiana (-14,274), New York (-101,984), Oregon (-6,021), Pennsylvania (-10,408), and West Virginia (-3,964) also all saw their populations fall.

The Source

  • This story was written based on the 2024 Migration Trends report published by the National Association of Realtors. It was based on a survey sent via email in August 2024 to a random sample of members across the U.S. The survey received 1,572 responses, 1,061 of which had represented a primary home purchase in 2024. It was reported from Cincinnati, and FOX Business contributed.