This Is the State the Most People Are Leaving

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Jan 21, 11:00AM EST

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

This Is the State the Most People Are Leaving — © monkeybusinessimages / iStock via Getty Images

Americans have become remarkably mobile in the past two years, with people changing cities and often states, too. And the state the most people are leaving is New Jersey.

Several reasons have increased the number of people who move. Among them has been a historically low mortgage rate – which makes housing less expensive – although that has begun to rise.

Another reason is the cost of living. People are relocating from the large coastal cities to inland metros with lower home prices, lower costs of living, and ostensibly a better quality of life. People have left places such as San Francisco and New York City, for instance, where home prices are three times the national median. (These are the most expensive cities in which to buy a home.)

Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed millions of people to work from home. This, in turn, has created a culture that allows people to remain away from offices permanently.

The states and cities people have left (and gone to) vary widely. To provide an analysis of this, United Van Lines has released its 45th Annual National Movers Study, which reveals the top states people moved to and from last year. Researchers tracked migration patterns on a state-by-state basis, basing their study on household moves handled by United within the 48 contiguous states (plus District of Columbia), and ranked them based on the inbound and outbound percentages of total moves in each state. (Moving isn’t the only reason populations decrease. Deaths, decreased fertility rates, and reduced immigration are others. These are America’s fastest shrinking states.)

Click here to see the states the most people are leaving

New Jersey topped the list with 71% of the moves being outbound. It has held the top spot for four years. It was followed by Illinois at 67%. The state with the most inbound moves was Vermont, with 74%.

Vermont National Guard by The National Guard

Vermont National Guard (CC BY 2.0) by The National Guard

48. Vermont
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 26%
> Number of outbound moves: 106

[in-text-ad]

47. South Dakota
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 31%
> Number of outbound moves: 139

[recirclink id=1019018]

South Carolina National Guard by The National Guard

South Carolina National Guard (CC BY 2.0) by The National Guard

46. South Carolina
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 37%
> Number of outbound moves: 2,024

45. West Virginia
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 38%
> Number of outbound moves: 169

[in-text-ad-2]

44. Florida
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 38%
> Number of outbound moves: 7,978

43. Alabama
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 38%
> Number of outbound moves: 1,034

[in-text-ad]

42. Tennessee
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 38%
> Number of outbound moves: 2,284

[recirclink id=913894]

41. Oregon
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 40%
> Number of outbound moves: 1,332

Idaho National Guard by The National Guard

Idaho National Guard (CC BY 2.0) by The National Guard

40. Idaho
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 40%
> Number of outbound moves: 643

[in-text-ad-2]

39. Rhode Island
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 41%
> Number of outbound moves: 365

38. Delaware
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 41%
> Number of outbound moves: 294

[in-text-ad]

37. North Carolina
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 41%
> Number of outbound moves: 4,234

[recirclink id=893049]

36. Maine
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 42%
> Number of outbound moves: 579

Temerario (CC BY 2.0) by Eden, Janine and Jim

35. New Mexico
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 44%
> Number of outbound moves: 1,000

[in-text-ad-2]

34. Utah
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 45%
> Number of outbound moves: 1,123

33. Texas
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 46%
> Number of outbound moves: 10,357

[in-text-ad]

32. Arizona
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 46%
> Number of outbound moves: 3,460

[recirclink id=911070]

New Hampshire National Guard by The National Guard

New Hampshire National Guard (CC BY 2.0) by The National Guard

31. New Hampshire
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 46%
> Number of outbound moves: 486

30. Georgia
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 47%
> Number of outbound moves: 4,122

[in-text-ad-2]

Arkansas National Guard by The National Guard

Arkansas National Guard (CC BY 2.0) by The National Guard

29. Arkansas
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 47%
> Number of outbound moves: 728

28. Washington
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 49%
> Number of outbound moves: 5,710

[in-text-ad]

27. Montana
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 49%
> Number of outbound moves: 730

[recirclink id=897868]

Oklahoma National Guard by The National Guard

Oklahoma National Guard (CC BY 2.0) by The National Guard

26. Oklahoma
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 49%
> Number of outbound moves: 1,130

25. Kentucky
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 50%
> Number of outbound moves: 1,318

[in-text-ad-2]

24. Wyoming
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 50%
> Number of outbound moves: 312

23. Indiana
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 50%
> Number of outbound moves: 1,493

[in-text-ad]

22. Colorado
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 50%
> Number of outbound moves: 4,668

[recirclink id=1019018]

21. Iowa
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 51%
> Number of outbound moves: 783

20. Virginia
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 51%
> Number of outbound moves: 5,919

[in-text-ad-2]

19. Nevada
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 51%
> Number of outbound moves: 1,615

18. Missouri
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 52%
> Number of outbound moves: 2,278

[in-text-ad]

17. Mississippi
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 52%
> Number of outbound moves: 733

[recirclink id=913894]

16. Wisconsin
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 52%
> Number of outbound moves: 1,669

15. Maryland
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 52%
> Number of outbound moves: 2,442

[in-text-ad-2]

North Dakota National Guard by The National Guard

North Dakota National Guard (CC BY 2.0) by The National Guard

14. North Dakota
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 53%
> Number of outbound moves: 315

13. Pennsylvania
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 53%
> Number of outbound moves: 3,379

[in-text-ad]

CV19TestSite.BaltimoreMD.15Jul... by Elvert Barnes

CV19TestSite.BaltimoreMD.15Jul... (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Elvert Barnes

12. Minnesota
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 54%
> Number of outbound moves: 1,801

[recirclink id=893049]

11. Kansas
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 56%
> Number of outbound moves: 1,521

Nebraska National Guard by The National Guard

Nebraska National Guard (CC BY 2.0) by The National Guard

10. Nebraska
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 56%
> Number of outbound moves: 953

[in-text-ad-2]

9. Ohio
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 56%
> Number of outbound moves: 3,598

8. Louisiana
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 57%
> Number of outbound moves: 1,436

[in-text-ad]

7. Massachusetts
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 58%
> Number of outbound moves: 2,984

[recirclink id=911070]

6. Michigan
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 58%
> Number of outbound moves: 2,727

5. California
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 59%
> Number of outbound moves: 15,836

[in-text-ad-2]

4. Connecticut
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 60%
> Number of outbound moves: 1,734

3. New York
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 63%
> Number of outbound moves: 5,714

[in-text-ad]

2. Illinois
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 67%
> Number of outbound moves: 6,181

[recirclink id=897868]

1. New Jersey
> Pct. of moves in state that are outbound: 71%
> Number of outbound moves: 3,770

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.