Housing

The City Americans Most Want to Leave

bluejayphoto / iStock via Getty Images

Americans were mobile at a record level for almost two and a half years. The pandemic-driven ability to work from home and low mortgage rates fueled this. However, more companies have since called people back to their offices, and mortgage rates have more than doubled. Home prices have stopped rising, and many fewer people are moving.
[in-text-ad]
For the more modest number of movers still in the market, some cities are much more popular than others. Some, however, probably will lose population. (These seven major American cities have lost half their populations.)

A new study by real estate company Redfin shows which cities people are most likely to leave and those people are most likely to move to. The net of these two shows likely migration to and from cities. The data comes from Redfin.com searches.

A primary reason people would move to a new metro is price. The Redfin study shows that much of the activity is for people who want to move from expensive West Coast cities to those further inland.


The research shows San Francisco is the metro people are most likely to leave. There is a net negative of 28,100 between the number of people who want to leave and those who want to move there. Places these people want to move to are dominated by nearby Sacramento.


These are the cities people are most likely to leave:
Metro Net Q2 Outflow Top Destination
San Francisco, Calif. 28,100 Sacramento, Calif.
New York, N.Y. 24,200 Miami, Fla.
Los Angeles, Calif. 20,900 Las Vegas, Nev.
Washington, D.C. 15,700 Salisbury, Md.
Chicago, Ill. 4,900 Cape Coral, Fla.
Boston, Mass. 4,400 Portland, Maine
Seattle, Wash. 3,900 Phoenix, Ariz.
Hartford, Conn. 3,500 Boston, Mass.
Denver, Colo. 2,300 Chicago, Ill.
Detroit, Mich. 2,300 Grand Rapids, Mich.

Cash Back Credit Cards Have Never Been This Good

Credit card companies are at war, handing out free rewards and benefits to win the best customers. A good cash back card can be worth thousands of dollars a year in free money, not to mention other perks like travel, insurance, and access to fancy lounges. See our top picks for the best credit cards today. You won’t want to miss some of these offers.

Flywheel Publishing has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Flywheel Publishing and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.