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Texas Top State Where Americans Move, New York Last

Florida brings in greatest wealth from new residents

Texas State Capitol / Wikimedia Commons
September 1, 2015

More people move to Texas than any other state, according to data released by the Internal Revenue Service.

The IRS collects data based on year-to-year address changes from tax returns to see which states individuals leave and where they subsequently move.

From 2012 to 2013, which is the latest data available, Texas had the largest positive net migration of 152,477 individuals. This is calculated by subtracting the number of out-migrant tax returns from the number of in-migrant returns.

Following Texas, Florida ranked second with a positive migration of 73,789 people. South Carolina was third with 28,905 people, Colorado fourth with 26,380, and North Carolina fifth with 25,911.

Conversely, New York ranked last among the states with a negative net migration of 113,861 people. Following New York were Illinois, California, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

"Texas accounted for more than half of the net migration to the South, while residents leaving New York made up more than half of the net loss from the Northeast," explains the IRS. "The single largest net migration was from New York to Florida (17,355 people on 7,861 returns)."

Florida also was the greatest recipient of wealth in 2013, according to Americans for Tax Reform. According to their analysis, 28,000 new residents moved to Florida and brought with them $8.34 billion in adjusted gross income.

"Taxes likely have played a large role in the mass migration to the Sunshine State," the group said in a release. "Florida is one of nine states that do not tax earned income, and one of only seven that do not tax any form of personal income. On top of that, Republican Governor Rick Scott has worked with the Republican legislature to provide an additional $2.6 billion in tax relief since taking office in 2011."

Published under: Economy , IRS , Taxes , Texas