39.6 million Americans moved in the newest Census count, yet the moving rate is the lowest since 1948. Every state ranked, and why every source disagrees.
About 39.6 million Americans moved to a new home in the most recent year of Census data.[1] But the moving statistics hide a twist: the share of people who move in a year has never been lower.
Two Census surveys give two honest answers: 39.6 million movers, or 11.8% of the population, by the big annual survey, and a 7.8% moving rate, the lowest since 1948, by the long-run trend survey.
The disappearing move is the local one. Same-county moves happen at 31% of their 1948 rate, while long-distance moves held up far better.
Renters move four times as often as homeowners, and renter mobility has been cut in half since 1988.
Housing beats jobs and family as the top reason for moving, and it has every single year since 1999.
North Carolina gained the most net domestic movers in the newest state estimates; per person, South Carolina gains fastest and New York loses fastest.
Here’s what each number really measures, and every state ranked both ways.
How many Americans move each year?
How many Americans move each year? About 39.6 million people, or 11.8% of the population, moved to a new home in the newest annual count from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.[1] That’s roughly the entire population of California packing boxes in a single year.
Plenty of sites say 24 to 26 million instead. That’s a different survey: the Current Population Survey, the long-run tracker, counted 25.6 million movers, or 7.8%, in its latest edition.[2]
Mix the two and you get the broken claim that circulates all over the internet, that 25 million movers equal 11 to 12% of the population. Run the division. It comes out near 7.6%.
Three answers to one question. Each source counts a different universe, and none of them is wrong.
39.6MCensus ACS: everyone age 1+movers in the newest annual survey
25.6MCensus CPS: the long-run trend surveymovers behind the 7.8% rate
Under 15MHireAHelper: one consumer databasetracked adult moves in a year
Census ACS 2024 1-year estimates; Census CPS 2023 (the newest CPS mobility package); HireAHelper 2026 Migration Report, built on Porch Group Media’s consumer database, calendar 2025.
Then come the industry reports. HireAHelper’s 2026 Migration Report, built on Porch Group Media’s consumer database, tracked just under 15 million adult moves in a year.[3] Company data measures customers, not the country.
America moves less than it ever has
In the early 1950s, about 1 in 5 Americans changed address every single year, and the rate peaked at 21.2% in 1951.[2] The latest reading is 7.8%, the lowest in a series that starts in 1948. Fewer than 1 in 12 people now move in a year.
The fall has been long and steady, not a pandemic blip. The second-lowest reading, 8.4%, came in 2021. Today’s rate is less than half the 1950s average.
Share of Americans who moved in the past year, 1948 to 2023. The blank stretches are 1972–75 and 1977–80, when the survey did not ask the question.
Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, historical mobility Table A-1, survey years 1948–2023.
One piece of trivia holds up only halfway. More people moved in 1985 than in any other year, 46.5 million of them. But that was a one-year spike, and the rate that year never touched the 1951 peak.[2]
The move that’s disappearing is the local one
Which move is vanishing, the cross-country leap or the across-town shuffle? The local one. Same-county moves now happen at 31% of their 1948 rate, falling from 13.6% of the population to 4.2%.[2]
Long-distance moves held up far better, at 45% of where they started: 3.1% of the population then, 1.4% now.[2] And the mix of movers is tilting long.
The share of movers crossing state lines rose from 14.3% in 2010 to 18.1% in the newest survey.[1] The share staying inside their own county fell from 61.3% to 50.3%.
Where movers went, as a share of all movers. The break at 2020 is real: the Census published no 2020 1-year estimates.
Census ACS 1-year estimates, available vintages 2010–2024. Points mark the published vintages.
Renters move four times as often as homeowners
Homeowners have nearly stopped moving. Just 4.1% of people in owner-occupied homes moved in the latest survey year, the lowest ever measured in a tenure series that starts in 1988.[2] That’s about 1 in 24.
Renters still churn, at 16.2%, roughly four times the owner rate. But the renter line is the real story. It stood at 35.2% in 1988, so renter mobility has been cut in half since then.[2]
Mover rate by tenure. Renter mobility has been cut in half; owners hit the lowest rate the survey has ever measured.
Census CPS historical mobility Table A-4, 1988–2023 (1995 not published).
What is the #1 reason people move?
Housing. It drove 41.3% of all moves in the latest reasons data, ahead of family (22.7%) and jobs (21.0%).[2] And it has been the top reason every single year since 1999.
It’s mostly aspiration, not desperation. The biggest single reason is wanting a newer, better, or bigger home, at 13.8% of movers.[2] A new job or transfer comes next at 12.5%, then setting up one’s own household (9.7%) and cheaper housing (9.4%).
The reasons that get the headlines are rounding errors. Retirement explains 1.3% of moves. Natural disasters, 0.2%.[2]
Why people move, as a share of all movers in the newest reasons data.
Housing41.3%
Family22.7%
Jobs21.0%
Everything else15.0%
Inside the housing bucket
Newer, better, or bigger home13.8%
Cheaper housing9.4%
Wanted to own, not rent6.8%
Census CPS Table A-5, survey year 2023. The housing specifics are shares of all movers; the biggest single reason anywhere on the table is wanting a newer, better, or bigger home.
What state are people moving to the most?
By volume, North Carolina, which netted +84,064 domestic movers in the year ending July 2025.[4] Per person, South Carolina wins, at +12.0 net arrivals per 1,000 residents, with Idaho next at 9.8. Same Census file, two honest answers to two slightly different questions.
The volume top five: North Carolina, Texas (+67,299), South Carolina (+66,622), Tennessee (+42,389), and Arizona (+31,107).[4] Per 1,000 residents, it’s South Carolina, Idaho, North Carolina, Delaware, and Tennessee.
Shaded by rank on net domestic migration per 1,000 residents, year ending July 1, 2025 (Census population estimates). Darkest = the biggest per-person magnet, South Carolina.Shaded by the share of residents who moved at all in the newest ACS survey year. On this churn view, Alaska and DC jump from the bottom of the net map to the top.
Source: Census Bureau Vintage 2025 population estimates (net view) and ACS 2024 1-year estimates (churn view).
Now, the moving companies hand out different trophies. United Van Lines’ 49th Annual National Movers Study crowns Oregon, where 64.5% of its shipments were inbound.[5] North American Van Lines’ 2025 U.S. Migration Report picks Idaho, at 71% inbound.[6]
HireAHelper’s 2026 Migration Report, built on Porch Group Media’s consumer database, hands its per-capita crown to South Carolina, at +79.7 tracked moves per 10,000 residents.[3] Each is a sample of one company’s customers. The Census puts Oregon’s actual net gain at +2,228 people, or +0.5 per 1,000, mid-pack.
Five number-ones for one question. Each is honest about a different universe.
Who’s counting
Their #1
What it actually measures
Census population estimates, by volume
North Carolina
+84,064 net domestic movers, year ending July 2025
Census population estimates, per 1,000
South Carolina
+12.0 net arrivals per 1,000 residents
United Van Lines’ 49th Annual National Movers Study
Oregon
64.5% of its own shipments were inbound
North American Van Lines’ 2025 U.S. Migration Report
Idaho
71% of its own shipments were inbound
HireAHelper’s 2026 Migration Report
South Carolina
+79.7 tracked moves per 10,000 residents, Porch Group Media database
Census Bureau Vintage 2025 population estimates; company reports as attributed. Company figures are samples of one company’s customers, not population measures.
What is the #1 state people are leaving?
California, and by volume it isn’t close: a net 229,077 people lost to other states in the year ending July 2025.[4] That works out to one net departure roughly every 2 minutes and 18 seconds. Per person, though, the fastest leak is New York’s, at −6.9 residents per 1,000 against California’s −5.8.[4]
Losing movers and shrinking are not the same thing. New York’s total population still grew, by 1,008 people, because international arrivals covered the domestic exits.[4] The truly fastest shrinking states are a much shorter list.
The five biggest net gainers and the five biggest net losers of domestic movers, year ending July 1, 2025.
Census Bureau Vintage 2025 population estimates, net domestic migration.
Even the famous California exodus is fading. The net loss has been cut roughly in half from its 2021 peak of −470,759.[4]
The state still feeds the largest state-to-state flow in the newest estimates: 77,161 movers to Texas.[7] Only 45,447 Texans went the other way.
The boom states are cooling off
Florida’s net domestic gain collapsed 93% in three years, from +310,892 in 2022 to +22,517 in 2025.[4] Texas fell 69% over the same window. The pandemic migration boom is deflating.
Meanwhile, the Midwest flipped. Ohio (+11,926), Indiana (+12,197), Minnesota (+8,300), and Michigan (+1,796) all posted net domestic gains in 2025, the first positive year for Minnesota and Michigan in the recent estimate window.[4]
Net domestic migration by year for the three biggest boom-and-exodus states. Florida’s gain collapsed 93% from its 2022 peak; California’s loss halved from 2021.
Census Bureau Vintage 2025 population estimates, net domestic migration components, years ending July 1.
And the “everyone is fleeing” storyline overshoots. In the newest estimates, 31 of 51 states (counting DC) gained net domestic movers, and only five states lost total population.[4] International migration added 1,262,202 residents nationally.
South Carolina topped both lists here: the per-person migration magnet was also the fastest-growing state outright, up 1.46%.
Moving statistics by state
The table holds both universes side by side: how much a state churns (the share of residents who moved at all) and whether it wins or loses on net (the population estimates). Sort it both ways and the mismatches jump out.
Moving statistics by state: mover shares (ACS 2024) and net domestic migration (Vintage 2025, year ending July 1, 2025)
Rank
State
Movers %
Same county %
Diff. state %
Net domestic
Per 1,000
1
South Carolina
12.3
5.4
3.5
+66,622
+12.0
2
Idaho
13.6
6.5
3.7
+19,915
+9.8
3
North Carolina
12.2
5.1
2.7
+84,064
+7.5
4
Delaware
10.6
5.7
3.3
+6,855
+6.5
5
Tennessee
12.2
6.1
2.7
+42,389
+5.8
6
Montana
12.8
6.0
3.2
+6,348
+5.5
7
Maine
10.3
4.9
2.6
+7,406
+5.2
8
Arkansas
12.0
6.5
2.1
+14,475
+4.6
8
New Hampshire
10.2
4.1
3.5
+6,554
+4.6
10
Alabama
11.4
5.8
2.3
+23,358
+4.5
10
Nevada
14.0
8.4
4.0
+14,914
+4.5
12
Arizona
13.8
8.3
3.1
+31,107
+4.1
13
West Virginia
10.0
4.6
2.5
+6,408
+3.6
14
Oklahoma
14.1
7.0
2.7
+14,492
+3.5
15
Wyoming
12.5
5.8
4.4
+1,474
+2.5
16
Georgia
12.8
5.2
2.4
+27,333
+2.4
17
South Dakota
12.7
5.6
2.6
+2,169
+2.3
18
Missouri
12.1
5.9
2.3
+14,028
+2.2
19
Texas
13.9
7.2
1.8
+67,299
+2.1
20
Indiana
11.7
5.7
2.0
+12,197
+1.7
21
Kentucky
12.0
5.8
2.1
+7,269
+1.6
22
Minnesota
11.3
5.1
1.8
+8,300
+1.4
23
Washington
13.7
7.3
2.8
+9,238
+1.2
23
Wisconsin
10.9
5.4
2.0
+6,984
+1.2
25
Florida
13.3
6.4
2.5
+22,517
+1.0
25
Ohio
11.8
6.4
1.7
+11,926
+1.0
27
Utah
13.3
7.1
2.8
+3,343
+0.9
28
Virginia
12.4
4.3
3.0
+6,268
+0.7
29
North Dakota
14.1
6.9
3.5
+512
+0.6
30
Oregon
13.0
6.8
2.8
+2,228
+0.5
31
Michigan
10.8
5.5
1.4
+1,796
+0.2
32
Kansas
13.0
6.6
2.8
-519
-0.2
32
Nebraska
13.1
6.8
2.5
-366
-0.2
32
Pennsylvania
10.1
5.3
1.8
-2,936
-0.2
35
Iowa
11.7
6.0
1.9
-970
-0.3
35
Mississippi
10.6
4.7
2.2
-917
-0.3
37
New Mexico
11.3
6.3
2.6
-2,267
-1.1
37
Vermont
11.3
5.3
3.8
-726
-1.1
39
Rhode Island
11.3
5.4
3.3
-1,551
-1.4
40
Connecticut
10.4
5.3
2.3
-5,945
-1.6
41
Maryland
10.7
4.8
2.7
-12,127
-1.9
42
Colorado
14.2
6.1
3.1
-12,100
-2.0
43
Illinois
10.2
5.6
1.6
-40,017
-3.1
43
Louisiana
10.6
5.5
1.6
-14,387
-3.1
45
New Jersey
8.8
4.0
1.6
-37,428
-3.9
46
Massachusetts
10.8
4.9
2.2
-33,340
-4.7
47
California
10.4
6.2
1.0
-229,077
-5.8
48
District of Columbia
19.9
10.9
7.7
-4,128
-6.0
49
Alaska
14.8
7.0
4.1
-4,525
-6.1
50
Hawaii
12.0
6.9
3.8
-8,876
-6.2
51
New York
9.3
4.7
1.5
-137,586
-6.9
Rank sorts net domestic migration per 1,000 residents; ties share a rank. Movers % and the distance shares are ACS 2024 shares of population; net domestic and per 1,000 are Census Vintage 2025 estimates. Click any header to sort.
Alaska and the District of Columbia churn near the top yet lose people on net.[1][4] Maine, New Hampshire, and West Virginia barely churn and still post solid net gains. Colorado pulls the opposite trick: still churning at a boom-state 14.2%, now losing people at −2.0 per 1,000.
Two footnotes as you sort. DC is a city on a state list, which is part of why it tops the mover-rate column at 19.9%.[1] New Jersey posts the lowest rate at 8.8%, with New York statistically close behind.
West Virginia gained movers yet still lost total population, because deaths outran births plus arrivals.[4]
One more reason this table prints the per-1,000 numbers itself: they get mangled in the retelling. Google’s answer box recently described 12 new people per 1,000 residents as a 1.5% growth rate. It’s 1.2%.
Methodology: three surveys and an estimate, kept separate
This article keeps the Census Bureau’s surveys and estimates separate on purpose, because they measure different things. We never splice CPS and ACS into one trendline: 7.8% and 11.8% for adjacent years is a difference in survey design, not a collapse in moving.
The vintage ladder:
Headline mover count and rate — American Community Survey 1-year estimates, table B07003, survey year 2024, released September 2025. State mover rates and state-to-state flows, with their margins of error, come from the same survey. The ACS published no 2020 1-year estimates.
Long-run trend — the Current Population Survey’s historical mobility tables (A-1, plus A-4 for owners versus renters and A-5 for reasons), 1948 through survey year 2023. No newer CPS mobility package exists, and the survey skipped the question in 1972–75 and 1977–80, so our chart shows real gaps.
Net domestic migration by state — the Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 population estimates, year ending July 1, 2025, the freshest state-level migration numbers available. Those count net flow, not individual movers, and carry no survey margins of error.
Company migration reports — quoted only as what they are: samples of one company’s customers.
Bottom line
Almost everything confusing about moving statistics comes down to one question: count, rate, or net? America still logs 39.6 million moves a year even at the lowest moving rate on record. A moving statistic without its survey label is like a price tag without a currency.
If you’re weighing a move yourself, judge a state by its net numbers per 1,000 residents, not by one company’s customer list. Then see how it stacks up against the best states to live in.
Frequently asked questions
What are the moving statistics in the US?
The core US moving statistics: 39.6 million people, or 11.8% of the population, moved in the newest annual Census survey, and the long-run trend survey puts its own rate at 7.8%, the lowest since 1948. Housing is the top reason, at 41.3% of moves. Over a lifetime, the Census Bureau’s “Calculating Migration Expectancy Using ACS Data” analysis estimates the average American moves about 11.7 times.
What states are people moving to in 2026?
The states people are moving to most, in the newest official numbers, are North Carolina by volume (+84,064 net domestic movers) and South Carolina per person (+12.0 per 1,000 residents). Texas, Tennessee, and Arizona round out the volume top five. No survey has counted 2026 moves yet, so any list promising 2026 numbers is a projection; the newest data covers the year ending July 2025. Be careful with the datelines: one top-ranking “moving industry statistics 2026” page carries a July 2024 date in Google’s own listing.
What is the fastest declining state?
The fastest declining state by total population is California, which lost 9,465 residents in the newest estimates, and it is one of only five states that shrank at all, with Hawaii, Vermont, New Mexico, and West Virginia. Measured per person, New York’s net domestic outflow is the country’s fastest at -6.9 per 1,000, though international arrivals kept its total population growing.
Are Americans leaving the US in 2026?
No official statistic says whether Americans are leaving the US in 2026: the Census Bureau counts only people living inside the country, though its net international migration figure, +1,262,202 for the year ending July 2025, does net arrivals against departures. That flow includes returning Americans as well as immigrants.
What are the top 5 states to move to?
The top 5 states people are moving to, by net domestic gain, are North Carolina (+84,064), Texas (+67,299), South Carolina (+66,622), Tennessee (+42,389), and Arizona (+31,107), in the year ending July 2025. Adjusted for population size, the top five runs South Carolina, Idaho, North Carolina, Delaware, and Tennessee.
Sources
U.S. Census Bureau. “American Community Survey, 1-Year Estimates, Table B07003: Geographical Mobility in the Past Year.” 2024. data.census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y2024.B07003
Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.
He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.
If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.
