Americans are increasingly drawn to the southern United States, with five states in particular attracting the largest number of transplants.
Florida and Texas had the most people moving within their borders in 2023, according to a new migration survey from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
Florida saw a net influx of 372,870 people last year, while 315,301 went to Texas, according to the report, which analyzed U.S. census data.
North Carolina welcomed 126,712 new residents in 2023 and had previously established itself as another fast-growing state.
Home to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina gained 91,853 more people last year.
Georgia rounded out the top five, adding 88,325 people to its growing population.
Tennessee ranked sixth with a net migration of more than 76,000, followed by Arizona (57,814), Alabama (36,128) and Oklahoma (31,967).
Ohio came in 10th and was the only state north of the Mason-Dixon line to make the list, after attracting a net migration of 28,718.
Florida saw a net influx of 372,000 people last year, according to a study by the National Association of Realtors. (Pictured: Clearwater Beach, Florida)
The study found that Texas welcomed 315,301 net new residents in 2023. (Pictured: Austin, Texas)
North Carolina, another fast-growing state, welcomed 126,712 new residents in 2023
Much of the talk about Americans moving south assumes they’re seeking warmer temperatures and sunnier skies, but that’s not the full picture.
According to the report, only one percent of those who moved said they did so for climate-related reasons.
The most common things that led people to pack up and leave were “housing reasons” (42 percent), “family reasons” (26 percent) and “work reasons” (16 percent).
There is a real estate crisis throughout the country. Between 1995 and 2023, median household income increased 2.3 times, from $34,076 a year to $80,610.
During the same period, the median home sales price increased 3.4 times, from $114,600 to $389,800, according to NAR figures.
This has led to many Americans being priced out of the market, with the average age of a homebuyer rising to 56 this year. That’s up from 49 last year.
The combination of stubbornly rising prices with historically high mortgage rates has produced the perfect recipe for housing unaffordability.
Still, bargains can be found, but especially in the southern United States.
South Carolina, home to Myrtle Beach (pictured), gained 91,853 more people last year.
Georgia rounded out the top five, adding 88,325 people to its growing population.
The typical home price in California ($791,000) and New York ($459,000) is much higher than in Texas ($303,000) and Florida ($415,000), according to Zillow.
California and New York are also the two states where the most people flee, as both states have high income taxes and stricter business regulations. Florida and Texas do not have income taxes.
North Carolina has an income tax, but it is much lower than New York or California.
About 16 percent of customers surveyed in the NAR report said they moved for lower taxes, and most of them moved south.
A larger portion, 30 percent of customers surveyed, moved to be closer to family and friends. A third of that group moved south.
This phenomenon is being driven in part by older people moving near their adult children who have children of their own. These older Americans often help with childcare, which has become exorbitantly expensive in recent years.
Between January 2020 and September 2024, the price of daycare and preschool increased about 22 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The South has become the most populous region in the United States, thanks almost entirely to Florida and Texas.
Although New York has the most populous city in the US, it is a state where many lifelong residents flee in search of cheaper real estate (Pictured: The sun rises over 42nd Street in Manhattan in a phenomenon known as Manhattanhenge on November 30, 2024)
The same goes for California, which has lost hundreds of thousands of people since January 2020 (pictured: the skyline of downtown Los Angeles and surrounding neighborhoods)
California has been the most populous state in the union since 1964, when it surpassed New York.
New York fell back to third place in 1994, when Texas surpassed 18.1 million inhabitants. Florida later overtook the Empire State.
And the data suggests that this trend will become more pronounced as the decades go by.
A study from February moveBuddha He projected that Texas and Florida would be the first and second largest states, respectively, by 2100, followed by California, Georgia, North Carolina and New York.
California has been steadily losing hundreds of thousands of citizens since 2019, before posting a modest gain in 2023.
This first population decline in California came after the COVID-19 pandemic, when the state imposed some of the strictest lockdown measures in the country.
From January 2020 to July 2022, California lost more than half a million people.
Florida, on the other hand, had looser pandemic restrictions. The state allowed restaurants and other businesses to open without mask mandates by September 2020, long before most other states followed suit.