Useful Stats: Domestic Net Migration, 2000-2004

Regional migration patterns between 2000 and 2004 revealed a continuing net average annual in-migration in the South and the West and a net average annual out-migration in the Midwest and the Northeast, according to the Census Bureau’s latest report. Domestic Net Migration in the United States: 2000 to 2004 details recent patterns of population redistribution throughout the U.S. and provides migration data from 1990-2000 to show a historical perspective in migration patterns.

On a state level ­ and consistent with regional data ­ states in the South and the West experienced the highest net in-migration (Table 2 of the report). Florida had the largest in-migration of 190,894, followed by Arizona (66,344) Nevada (50,803), Georgia (41,298), North Carolina (39,137) and Texas (36,566).

Although Nevada did not incur the largest numerical change in net migration, it experienced the highest net in-migration rate of 23.3. Net migration rate is calculated by dividing total net domestic migration by the average population living in that area over the period and multiplying the resulting figure by 1,000. Arizona and Florida held the second- and third-highest net in-migration rates at 12.2 and 11.4, respectively.

Conversely, New York (-182,886), California (-99,039), Illinois (-71,854), Massachusetts (-42,402), New Jersey (-32,147), and Ohio (-31,613) experienced the greatest net out-migration over the four-year period. The District of Columbia experienced the largest net out-migration rate in the nation at -18.1 per 1,000 residents (an annual net migration of -10,176). New York and Massachusetts held the second- and third-greatest out-migration rates at -9.6 and -6.6, respectively.

Compared with the 1990s, five states reversed migration patterns from a net in-migration to a net out-migration: Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah. In contrast, four states experienced a net in-migration over the last four years compared to a net out-migration in the previous decade: Maine, Maryland, Rhode Island and Wyoming.

The census bureau also reported on the migration patterns of the nation’s 25 largest metropolitan statistical areas (see Table 3 of the report). Eighteen of the metropolitan statistical areas experienced a net out-migration, including New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island (-211,014) and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana (-117,780). However, San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont had the largest average annual rate of net out-migration (-14.7 per 1,000 residents) of the 25 largest metropolitan statistical areas ­- an annual net out-migration of -60,984.

All of the seven metropolitan statistical areas that experienced a net in-migration from 2000-2004 were located in the West or the South. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario had the largest numerical change in population with a net in-migration of 81,460 per year. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater and Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta followed with a net in-migration of more than 30,000.

The Census Bureau’s report is available at: http://www.census.gov/prod/2006pubs/p25-1135.pdf