Net Migration Rate of Residents from Other States into a State, rate per 1,000
If a state is gaining more population from other states than it is losing to them, then it may be positioned to be a Big Sort winner. Since the mid-1980s, a group of 17 states recorded net in-migration in each of the three periods analyzed, led by Nevada, and including Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Oregon. Some 15 states experienced net out-migration in each of the three periods, including New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and Michigan. Some states reversed their performance over the three periods. Colorado, Texas and eight other states had losses in earlier periods, but were recording net gains in domestic migrants in later periods. Five states, including California, Minnesota and Missouri, were gainers in earlier periods, but have experienced domestic out-migration more recently.
This statistic measures the net migration rate of the population aged five years and older for each state between 1985 and 2000. The migration rate is computed by subtracting the number of out-migrants in the population group from the number of in-migrants in the population group and dividing the result by the number of persons in the population group at the end of the time period in consideration. The migration rate is expressed as a rate per 1,000 people. The 2000-2006 domestic net-migration rate data have a longer time frame and use different methods from the other two, so the data are not directly comparable in terms of magnitude. Specifically, while it would be accurate to compare net migration in New Mexico in 2006 to that in Arizona in 2006 and it would be appropriate to compare New Mexico's growth in 2006 to the state's decline in 2000, it would not be accurate to compare the size of Arizona's domestic net migration in 2006 to Arizona's domestic net migration in 2000. These data were taken from the U.S. Bureau of the Census' Decennial Census, File SF-3 (2000 and 1990), located at http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DatasetMainPageServlet?_program=DEC&_submenuId=datasets_2&_lang=en&_ts= and National Population Estimates located at http://www.census.gov/popest/states/NST-comp-chg2006.html. Joseph Cortright, vice president/economist of Impresa Consulting, provided consulting support on developing and analyzing these data.
