With the Census coming up we thought it might be neat to have a look at how migration has been changing over the past ten years. We put together this interactive map to show the net migration into and out of the 48 lower states.

The data has been compiled from the IRS Tax Stats for 1998-2008.

Here’s a key to the map:

• Dark Red = Population declined by .5% or greater
• Light Red = Population declined by .49% – .02%
• Neutral = No population change
• Light Green = Population grew by .02% – .49%
• Dark Green = Population grew by .5% or greater

Scroll through the maps and see what trends jump out at you. Here are a few things we noticed.

1. In 1998 much of the out-migration is occurring in the Northern states. A few Western states and every Southern state (except Louisiana) are gaining.
2. States like California, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey experienced out-migration every year over the ten-year span.
3. Far Western states (Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Washington, Oregon), Texas, and Southern states (with the exception of Florida in one year) experienced growth over the ten-year period.
4. Population decline seemed to peak midway through the period and then stabilized by 2008.
5. By 2008, out-migration seemed to settle down a lot and was mostly isolated in the Midwestern/Northern states.

If you have questions or comments about this chart please contact us 208.883.3500 or at rob@economicmodeling.com.