We Know People Are Leaving New York. What States Are They Going To?

We read the reports every year. New York is, unfortunately, losing residents. Everything from the high cost of living, lack of well-paying jobs, and cold weather have been blamed. But where exactly are they going? 

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, New York state’s population dropped by 76,790 between 2018 and 2019. That is a 0.4 percent loss. The numbers are even bigger when you consider almost 1.4 million people have left in the past ten years.

A website called Zippia used data from the Census and has found the states where all these New Yorkers are going. Some of the results may be a bit surprising. According to Zippia, they're heading to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, California, Connecticut, North Carolina.

If we believe the notion that the Northeast is too cold, too expensive, and too tax ridden, it doesn't look like these exiting people are going far. It's certainly expensive to live in a place like Connecticut. On the other hand, states like CT or NJ aren't that far away.

Other states like North Carolina or Florida might make more sense if you're trying to escape the cold.

One state-run analysis from December 2019, says the residents leaving are mostly middle-class workers and high-income earners.