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At this point, to some extent it barely qualifies as news that Florida is a top destination for out-of-state relocations. That's how common it is. For example: the Sunshine State added 211,196 new residents between July 2020 and July 2021, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, second only to Texas, which drew 310,288 migrants during that time period.
However, according to a migration patterns study by Atlas Van Lines, in 2021, Florida’s inbound moves vastly outpaced its outbound relocations, by a margin of 59% to 41%. That qualifies Florida as an “inbound” state for the first time since 2016, rather than balanced — meaning moves in and out of the state are roughly equal.
According to Atlas, Florida was No. 10 overall in terms of inbound migration last year. No. 1, somewhat surprisingly, is Maine, but except for Washington, D.C., the rest of the top 10 list is populated by states in the South and West.
The list of outbound states is led — again, unsurprisingly — by New York, followed by Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey and West Virginia. Midwest states such as Indiana, Iowa and Ohio also saw more people leave than arrive.
Over the past decade, Atlas found, Florida has never qualified as an outbound state. The closest it came was in 2012, when 52% percent of moves were inbound and 48% were outbound. Another big year for inbound moves was 2015, with a 58% to 42% ratio of inbound vs. outbound, respectively.
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