By Alisha Kim, Research Economist, Economic and Business Research Center
This is the fourth in a series of blog posts about mobility between states based on various socioeconomic characteristics. One indicator of the attractiveness of a state’s quality of life, cost of living, and economic success is net migration. This analysis is based on the entire state population by age group, taken from the 2019 1-year American Community Survey (ACS) data which provides a measure of respondents’ mobility between states in the last year. Exhibit 1 illustrates net migration by state in 2019, showing that Arizona had the third highest net migration behind only Florida and Texas. There was positive net migration in 29 of the 50 U.S. states, indicating more people moved into the state than moved out of the state.
Exhibit 1: Arizona Ranked Third in Net Migration by State in 2019
This analysis measures net migration of persons into the state based on age groups, separated into working age persons 18-64 years old and adults 65 years old and older. Exhibit 2 illustrates net migration of working age persons in 2019. Arizona ranked third out of the 31 states with positive net migration of working age persons, behind only Texas and Florida. This is the same rank than Arizona had for migration of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher or for migration of people with an annual income of $75,000 or more.
Exhibit 2: Arizona Ranked Third in Net Migration for Working Age Persons in 2019
Exhibit 3 illustrates net migration of persons 65 years and older in 2019. Arizona ranks second by this measure, reinforcing the common belief that Arizona is an attractive retirement location. Florida was the only state with a higher net migration of older adults. In addition to the number of older adults migrating into these two states, the percentage was quite high with 28.4% of inflow to Arizona being older adults (and 32.2% of migration into Florida). The map in Exhibit 3 also reflects the outflow of older adults from many Northern states to states with warmer winter weather in the South.
Exhibit 3: Arizona Ranked Second in Net Migration for Age 65+ Persons in 2019
Exhibit 4 below lists total net migration in 2019 by state for all persons, as well as by selected age groups, sorted by total net migration of working age persons.
Exhibit 4: Net Migration by Age Group in 2019
