24/7 Insights
- Cities people want to leave are led by Los Angeles and other cities on the coasts.
- One primary reason is cost of living.
In the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans began to move from where they lived to where they would like to live. People could work from home and were no longer tied to offices. The cost of living and climate also drove a part of this migration. Many of the people who moved went to places like Boise and Phoenix. People living on America’s coasts found they could live inland for less money.
Real estate firm Redfin looks at the cities Americans want to leave, and those people want to move to. The period covered was March 2024 to May 2024. The methodology did not have to do with actual relocations. Across a sample of about 2 million people, Redfin looked at home search patterns.
The results were similar to other migration behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic years. People planned to move out of Los Angeles in huge numbers. A total of 36,500 considered leaving the largest West Coast city. New York followed it at 32,200, San Francisco at 25,800, and Seattle at 20,100.
Numbeo confirms how expensive the cities people want to leave are. Based on its “cost of living” index, New York is the most expensive city in America. San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, and Los Angeles follow it.
Where are people going? Inland and to Florida. The city at the top of where people want to go is inland from the Pacific Coast, close to San Francisco and Los Angeles. Sacramento is in first place, followed by Phoenix, then Sarasota and Cape Coral in Florida.
This is each state’s worst city to live in.
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