Pandemic Accelerated, but Didn’t Cause US Migration

The pandemic is often mentioned as the impetus for stronger-than-usual migration patterns throughout the US. Placer.ai’s recent Domestic Migration Trends report, however, suggests that most of these trends were already in place and that the pandemic might have accelerated them to some degree.

“The sudden option to work from home also led to questions about where people would live if commuting to an office was no longer a necessity,” according to its report. “Many assumed that there would be a mass exodus from cities as people, feeling constrained by lockdowns, would seek outdoor space.”

Despite these new ways to live and work, most people stayed in place, and if they did move, it was only a short distance, Placer.ai reported.

Moves across state lines—such as to escape weather, dense offices or high costs of living—were already happening and states such as Florida, Arizona, Colorado and Texas were the main recipients. Meanwhile, New York, Illinois, and California shed residents.

For instance, Travis County, Texas, which is home to Austin, has been the fastest growing major metropolitan city in America for nine years straight, adding an average of 169 new people per day between 2018 and 2019.

The research firm further reported that a great deal of the migration in and out of cities is intra-regional migration—people moving from suburbs to cities or people moving from cities to surrounding areas while remaining rooted around their city of origin. 

Granularly speaking, certain counties saw their growth trends accelerating—or decelerating. However, many people moved from suburbs to cities or from cities to surrounding areas while remaining rooted around their city of origin.