By Mari Hansen The new IRS migration release arrived quietly, as these releases typically do: a spreadsheet, a few headlines, and then the news cycle resumes. However, after some time spent examining the numbers, an oddity begins to emerge.
Americans are moving in ways that don’t exactly fit the traditional explanations for why people relocate. Housing, family, jobs, and the weather are all still important. However, the current geographic distribution of the money seems almost too neat to be a coincidence.
| Category | Detail |
|---|---|
| Subject | U.S. Interstate Migration & State Tax Policy |
| Data Source | IRS Statistics of Income — State Migration Data |
| Reporting Year | 2022–2023 |
| Total Movers | 6.7 million Americans crossed state lines |
| High-Earner Movers | ~700,000 households earning $200,000+ |
| Top Gaining State | Florida (+113,494 residents; +$20.7B income) |
| Top Losing State | California (−205,788 residents; −$13B income) |
| Runner-up Gainer | Texas (+111,079 residents) |
| Runner-up Loser | New York (−161,963 residents; −$10.6B income) |
| Notable Outlier | Georgia (+34,800 residents; −$35M total income) |
| Policy Analysis | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities |
| Combined CA + NY Loss | ~368,000 people; $23.6 billion in annual income |
Texas and Florida are escaping it. About 50,485 of the 113,494 net new residents that Florida attracted in 2023 were high earners, contributing $17 billion of the state’s $20.7 billion income gain. Texas was not far behind, adding 111,079 residents, but up close, its migration appears to be different—more middle-class and working-class, with fewer six-figure transplants per capita. You can practically feel the change if you stroll through a Tampa strip mall or a new subdivision outside of Austin. fresh license plates. Parked at strange hours are moving trucks. the subtle impression that the location is still setting itself up.
The Carolinas are now more subdued winners. $3.9 billion and 69,001 new residents were added to North Carolina. Smaller and frequently disregarded, South Carolina earned 58,610 and $4.1 billion. 42,401 new people moved to Tennessee. Georgia is an interesting example, with 34,800 new residents and a total income of negative $35 million, indicating that the mix of newcomers skews lower-income while wealthy arrivals covertly add their own $1.9 billion. That contradiction contains a story, but nobody seems to be sharing it just yet.
Next, the ledger’s opposite side. With 37,777 high earners who took $13 billion with them, including $7.6 billion from that group alone, California lost 205,788 residents, the largest net outflow in the nation. New York lost $10.6 billion and 161,963 residents. In one year, those two states lost almost 368,000 citizens and $23.6 billion in revenue. The losers are Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Maryland, and they all have one thing in common that is difficult to overlook: they all have high state income taxes.
But this is where things get trickier. For years, economists at organizations like the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities have maintained that the “money walks” narrative is deceptive, claiming that most people are unable to take their earnings with them since they are employed by someone else and their jobs remain in place when they depart. When a sales representative from California is transferred to Nevada, her replacement receives her paycheck. That is true. The accounting is more complicated than the proponents of migration acknowledge.
And yet. The data remains there, unyielding. New Jersey lost $2.8 billion from all movers but $2.9 billion from high earners alone. This means that while lower-income arrivals helped to partially offset the loss, those who left were disproportionately the ones who sent Trenton the largest checks. That is not insignificant. It’s possible that the skeptics downplay it while the doomsayers oversimplify it.
It appears to be a slow tilt rather than a stampede. The no-income-tax system in Florida reinforces itself as wealthy newcomers increase property values and generate revenue for the state through sales taxes. A narrower base is squeezed by high-tax states, which tends to push more of that base toward the exits. This loop has been going on for a while, and no one in Sacramento or Albany seems to know how to slow it down.
It is arguable whether this is the largest internal migration in American history. It’s more difficult to dispute that it’s changing the political landscape, housing markets, and budgets in ways that most state legislatures haven’t factored in.