More Than Half a Million New Yorkers Headed to Other States Last Year: Here’s Where They Landed

By Yehudit Garmaise

“I was looking for a better quality of life,” is what former New Yorkers tell people in any new state to which they move.

At a rate that is 3.8% higher than in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 545,500 former residents of New York State, likely taking advantage of remote work options, packed up and moved to another state.

Sunny Florida welcomed the largest share of ex-New Yorkers, a group that numbered 91,201 last year.

Many other former residents of the Empire State found more affordable homes in less stressful communities in neighboring states.

Coming in second was New Jersey, which welcomed 75,103 former New Yorkers last year. 

Connecticut and Pennsylvania gained 50,670 and 44,807 former New Yorkers, respectively.

For New Yorkers who are “California Dreaming,” 31,255 former New York residents moved out west to “The Golden State,” while 30,890 moved to Texas.

North Carolina received 25,024 former New Yorkers, and Massachusetts gained 21,186. 

The last biggest states to which residents fled last year were Virginia and Georgia, which welcomed 17,516 and 16,535 former New Yorkers.

Although more people moved into New York in 2022 than in any other year in the last decade, according to the Census Bureau, in net, New York lost 244,000 people last year.

Which states did ex-New Yorkers most avoid? 

Wyoming, Montana, Iowa, Mississippi, and South Dakota all welcomed fewer than 500 former New Yorkers last year.