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Which U.S. States Gained the Most Residents in 2025
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Key Takeaways
- South Carolina saw the largest net migration gain per 10,000 residents in 2025.
- The South and Mountain West attracted the most new residents overall.
- Meanwhile, high-cost states like California and New York continued to see net population outflows.
Nearly 15 million Americans moved in 2025, with many relocating across state lines in search of lower costs, job opportunities, and warmer climates.
This map shows net migration per 10,000 residents across all 50 states in 2025, revealing where population inflows were strongest and which states saw the biggest outflows. The data comes from HireAHelper.
Southern and Mountain West states dominated the rankings for inbound migration, while several high-cost coastal states continued to lose residents.
The data reflects large-scale shifts happening in the country’s population distribution, both from the Eastern half to the Western half, as well as shifts away from more expensive states to cheaper, often inland ones.
The Mountain West Over the West Coast
In 2025, the Western half of the U.S. saw a continuation of post-COVID trends as people left behind coastal states like Washington (-10.7) and Oregon (-9.0) in favor of more inland Mountain West states like Wyoming (+26.0), Utah (+7.3), and especially Idaho (+63.2).
The data table below highlights the net migration loss/gain per 10,000 inhabitants in 2025:
| Rank | State | Net migration (per 10,000 residents) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Carolina | 79.7 |
| 2 | Idaho | 63.2 |
| 3 | Delaware | 54.5 |
| 4 | Tennessee | 43.6 |
| 5 | Alabama | 36.6 |
| 6 | Maine | 35.7 |
| 7 | Arkansas | 33.3 |
| 8 | Oklahoma | 26.4 |
| 9 | Wyoming | 26.0 |
| 10 | Montana | 23.4 |
| 11 | Texas | 23.0 |
| 12 | West Virginia | 19.3 |
| 13 | New Hampshire | 18.8 |
| 14 | Mississippi | 17.9 |
| 15 | Georgia | 13.4 |
| 16 | Minnesota | 12.5 |
| 17 | South Dakota | 9.3 |
| 18 | Utah | 7.3 |
| 19 | Wisconsin | 7.2 |
| 20 | Arizona | 7.1 |
| 21 | Kentucky | 7.0 |
| 22 | Florida | 6.9 |
| 23 | Nevada | 6.5 |
| 24 | New Mexico | 6.0 |
| 25 | Indiana | 5.3 |
| 26 | Louisiana | 3.0 |
| 27 | North Dakota | -0.1 |
| 28 | Vermont | -1.7 |
| 29 | Hawaii | -2.3 |
| 30 | Iowa | -3.3 |
| 31 | Ohio | -4.1 |
| 32 | Colorado | -4.6 |
| 33 | Missouri | -5.0 |
| 34 | Michigan | -5.5 |
| 35 | Connecticut | -7.9 |
| 36 | Oregon | -9.0 |
| 37 | Washington | -10.7 |
| 38 | Pennsylvania | -11.1 |
| 39 | Nebraska | -13.3 |
| 40 | Virginia | -13.7 |
| 41 | Rhode Island | -14.0 |
| 42 | Illinois | -14.5 |
| 43 | Alaska | -16.9 |
| 44 | New Jersey | -17.6 |
| 45 | Kansas | -19.6 |
| 46 | California | -25.1 |
| 47 | Maryland | -27.4 |
| 48 | New York | -28.2 |
| 49 | North Carolina | -29.2 |
| 50 | Massachusetts | -37.9 |
The more populous coastal states, which have long been hubs for key economic sectors like tech and aviation, have seen a number of moves in recent years owing to jobs either relocating or shifting to remote work.
Nowhere on the West Coast saw a bigger drop than California, which saw a net migration loss of -25.1, as nearly 100,000 residents left behind the increasingly unaffordable state in favor of cheaper neighboring states like Nevada, which lacks a state income tax.
The Cost of Living Factor
California is not alone in losing people over affordability issues. If net migration trends are any indication, other high cost of living states such as New York (-28.2) and Connecticut (-37.9) also increasingly shed residents.
A majority of the Northeast fared similarly, with all states but Delaware, Maine, and New Hampshire seeing more people leave than arrive in 2025.
And in the immediate region surrounding the nation’s capital, the states of Maryland (-27.4) and Virginia (-13.7) also saw negative net migration, likely reflecting in part the large reduction in the federal workforce seen over the course of the year.
The Rise of the Sunbelt
If one region is seeing across-the-board growth, it’s the South, led by states like South Carolina (+79.7), Tennessee (+43.6), and Alabama (+36.6).
Long one of the more economically depressed regions of the country, a combination of lower costs of living and nicer weather has led to rapid growth for southern “Sun Belt” states such as Arkansas and Oklahoma, to say nothing of massive favorites like Texas and the Sunshine State of Florida.
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