0923 Publ 5508 (PDF)

Official source: IRS Forms, Instructions & Publications (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p5508.pdf), retrieved 2026-10-03. U.S. Government work (17 U.S.C. § 105).

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The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Statistics of Income Division (SOI) migration data for the U.S. are based on year-to-year address changes reported on individual income tax returns filed with the IRS. The data present migration patterns by state and county and are available for inflows—the number of new residents who moved to a state or county and from where they migrated, and outflows—the number of residents leaving a state or county and to where they moved. The data also include tabulations on the number of nonmigrant returns within a state and county. Data do not represent the full U.S. population because many individuals are not required to file individual tax returns.

For the 2020–2021 migration data, 8.9 million returns were identified as migrant returns, representing 16.3 million people (based on the number of individuals). Taxpayers within the age groups of 26 under 35 and 35 under 45 accounted for over half of the individuals (57.2%) who migrated in the U.S. The 26 to under 35 age group comprised the largest percentage of individuals who migrated (32.2%).

As shown in Figure 2A, Florida had the largest positive net migration of 261,863 individuals on 126,837 returns; followed by Texas with 182,704 individuals on 83,136 returns; and North Carolina with 79,317 individuals on 40,999 returns. California had the largest negative net migration of 355,809 individuals on 154,412 returns, followed by New York with 267,156 individuals on 140,246 returns, then Illinois with 106,716 individuals on 53,242 returns.

Tax Statistics Publication 5508 (Rev. 9–2023) Catalog Number 75570Z Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service www.irs.gov

Figure 2b: Percentage of Total Inflow for the Five Top States by Age Group

Age

35 under

45

45 under

55

55 under

65

65 and over

26 under

35

Florida

Texas

North Carolina

South Carolina

Tennessee

under

26

8.4%

12.4%

12.3%

9.9%

11.9%

30.7%

26.1%

29.0%

22.8% 22.6% 15.5% 14.6% 16.1%

32.1% 28.3% 13.2% 7.4% 6.6%

24.7% 14.7% 10.8% 8.9%

9.9%

13.1%

23.8%

24.7% 12.7%

14.5%

9.7%

12.6%

0 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

When the top five states are broken down by age group, the majority of individuals that moved to Texas (60.4%), North Carolina (55.4%), and Tennessee (53.7%) were individuals between the ages of 26 and under 45 years old. For individuals that moved to Florida or South Carolina, under half were individuals within the age range of 26 to under 45 years old at 45.4% and 49.9%, respectively.

Figure 2c: Percentage of Total Outflow for the Five Bottom States by Age Group Age

35 under

45

45 under

55

55 under

65

65 and over

26 under

California

New York

Illinois

Massachusetts

Louisiana

under

26

10.6%

10.3%

11.4%

12.0%

14.0%

35

30.1%

34.5%

34.9%

29.2% 26.3% 13.6% 10.6% 9.7%

32.7% 25.9% 12.7% 9.3% 9.2%

23.7% 13.7%

26.9% 11.3% 6.7% 6.1%

21.4%

11.6%

10.7%

10.1%

10.3%

10.4%

0 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

For Figure 2c, which shows the total outflow for the five bottom states by age group, more than half of the individuals moving out of one of the bottom five states were individuals between ages 26 to under 45 years of age with Louisiana leading with 61.8% followed by New York at 58.6%, Massachusetts (55.9%), California (55.5%) and Illinois (53.8%).

Additional information on SOI’s migration data can be found at: https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-migration-data

Tax Statistics Publication 5508 (Rev. 9–2023) Catalog Number 75570Z Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service www.irs.gov