; Map: Jared Whalen/Axios
When Washingtonians move out of state, they’re typically staying closer to home, opting for the laid-back style of other West Coast and Southwest states, per new census data.
Why it matters: While moving overall is at an all-time low, there’s been an uptick in state-to-state migration, as Axios’ Erica Pandey reports .
How it works: The data is based on the newly released 2018-2022 five-year state-to-county migration estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
- The estimates are best understood as a pooled average covering that time frame.
By the numbers: California was the top destination for Washingtonians moving out of state, with an average of 35,000 residents moving there each year between 2018 and 2022, according to the data.
- Oregon was the second most popular destination, with 23,000 moving to our neighbor each year in that same period.
- Arizona and Texas both netted close to 19,000 former Washingtonians each over those four years, and Idaho picked up more than 16,000.