11 States Are Seeing the Biggest Outflow of Residents

Americans are on the move, and the places they’re leaving behind are starting to feel it. Schools are losing students, tax bases are shrinking, and some neighborhoods have more for-sale signs than block parties. It’s a trend that keeps repeating, and certain states land on the losing end year after year. The reasons aren’t hard to find when you look at what these places share. Crushing housing costs push families toward cheaper metros, brutal winters wear people down, and taxes eat into every paycheck until leaving starts to feel like the only rational choice.

The Great American Reshuffling

A young child with curly hair peeks out from inside a cardboard moving box, only their eyes and the top of their head visible above the edge. Adults move around in the soft-focus background among other packed boxes.
Young families watched homeownership slip out of reach and left for places where it hadn’t. Image by: Pexels
People have always moved for work, family, or weather. But the pandemic added a new option: staying employed while leaving town. Millions of workers discovered their jobs could be done from anywhere, and once they realized they could keep their salaries while paying a 3rd of the rent somewhere else, many did exactly that. Housing prices in expensive metros climbed so fast that leaving stopped feeling like a choice and started feeling like the only option that made sense. Especially for young families watching homeownership slip further out of reach.