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You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. The coronavirus pandemic spurred a wave of migration. Americans are moving out of the Northeast, the Midwest and California and into . The national population expanded by 1.15 million from mid-2019 to mid-2020, according to population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Just two states — Texas and Florida — added a combined 600,000 people, accounting for more than half of the nation’s population growth over the year. “Texas and Florida and a few other states have been really the big gainers in terms of net population growth,” says Frank Nothaft, chief economist at real estate data firm CoreLogic. Arizona and North Carolina also attracted new residents. The biggest losers were New York, Illinois and California. Americans clearly are moving out of denser urban areas and into less-dense suburban areas, says Robert Dietz, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders. “We saw housing demand moving to lower-density areas because people need the space for home offices,” he said this week during the group’s annual conference. The census data captures only the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic. As many office workers transition into permanent work-from-home arrangements, housing economists say the migration trends are likely to intensify. White-collar workers are able to afford more space by moving out of big cities and into suburban areas. Top 5 states for population growth
The five states with the most growth expanded by a combined 900,000 people from July 1, 2019, to July 1, 2020. They are: Texas. Known for modest taxes and affordable housing, Texas added an estimated 373,965 residents from mid-2019 to mid-2020. Florida. The Sunshine State, which boasts no state income tax, grew by 241,256 people in a year. Arizona. Benefitting from its proximity to California, Arizona has appealed to Golden State movers. Arizona added 129,558 people. North Carolina. The state added an estimated 99,439 residents. Georgia. The state grew by 81,997 residents. 5 states losing the most population
Pennsylvania. The state lost an estimated 15,629 people from mid-2019 to mid-2020. Michigan. The Rust Belt state lost 18,240 residents. California. Reversing a trend of population growth over the past decade, California lost an estimated 69,532 residents. Home prices have grown eye-wateringly expensive. Illinois. Continuing a trend of outward migration, Illinois shrank by 79,487 people from mid-2019 to mid-2020. New York. The state was hit hard in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic. New York lost an estimated 126,355 residents. Why Texas is growing so quickly
Texas, the nation’s second-largest state, boasts comparatively low home prices and a relatively light tax burden. Houston, Dallas and Austin already were corporate hubs, and they’ve gained appeal. Texas’ strong job growth makes it appealing to younger workers, Nothaft says. In recent months, two Silicon Valley stalwarts announced plans to move their headquarters to Texas. Hewlett Packard Enterprises is going to Houston, while Oracle will relocate to Austin. “A lot of corporations are moving their headquarters to Texas because we’re business-friendly,” says Mark Dotzour, an independent housing analyst and former chief economist at the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. Texas imposes fewer than California. As a result, the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area alone has more new homes being built than the entire state of California, Nothaft says. Even so, homebuyers in Texas face a tight inventory of homes for sale. During the third quarter of 2020, there was just a 2.3-month supply of homes, reflecting an intense seller’s market. “Our housing shortage just gets bigger and bigger and bigger,” Dotzour says. “There’s going to be a chronic shortage of single-family houses here, and home prices are going to increase dramatically.” However, work-from-home arrangements could open up rural areas for new homebuilding, Dotzour says. If white-collar workers never go to the office, or commute only once or twice a week, they’ll be willing to live farther away from city centers. “Land developers have told me for three decades that most people will not tolerate a commute of more than 45 minutes each way,” he says. “My hypothesis is that people might be willing to drive 60 minutes if they only have to go in to work twice a week.” Where does your state rank
Rank State Population change 18 Alabama 13,567 39 Alaska -2,445 3 Arizona 129,558 22 Arkansas 9,537 49 California -69,532 9 Colorado 49,233 43 Connecticut -9,016 21 Delaware 10,141 29 District of Columbia 4,563 2 Florida 241,256 5 Georgia 81,997 41 Hawaii -8,609 12 Idaho 37,853 50 Illinois -79,487 15 Indiana 23,943 31 Iowa 3,965 34 Kansas 1,170 28 Kentucky 4,906 46 Louisiana -12,967 30 Maine 4,371 35 Maryland 848 38 Massachusetts -1,309 48 Michigan -18,240 17 Minnesota 17,289 45 Mississippi -11,441 19 Missouri 11,073 20 Montana 10,454 27 Nebraska 4,981 10 Nevada 47,488 26 New Hampshire 5,492 42 New Jersey -8,887 24 New Mexico 6,685 51 New York -126,355 4 North Carolina 99,439 33 North Dakota 1,585 40 Ohio -3,290 16 Oklahoma 20,107 14 Oregon 25,391 47 Pennsylvania -15,629 37 Rhode Island -1,033 7 South Carolina 60,338 25 South Dakota 5,590 8 Tennessee 56,509 1 Texas 373,965 11 Utah 46,496 36 Vermont -699 13 Virginia 33,921 6 Washington 79,588 44 West Virginia -10,476 23 Wisconsin 8,074 32 Wyoming 2,212 Learn more
SHARE: Jeff Ostrowski covers mortgages and the housing market. Before joining Bankrate in 2020, he wrote about real estate and the economy for the Palm Beach Post and the South Florida Business Journal. Related Articles