A report from the U.S. Census Bureau last week provides detailed insight on the whereabouts of people who moved into, and out of, Connecticut in recent years.
Between 2016 and 2020, approximately 107,000 residents moved out of Connecticut, with many residents settling in southern states such as Florida and Georgia, as well as to states in the West, the data show.
Net migration from Connecticut, by county
The map below shows net migration of residents from Connecticut. Darker shades of blue on the map represent high numbers of residents who left their respective counties to move to CT. The dark yellows represent counties that received more residents than they lost to CT.
At the same time, an influx of new residents moved here. According to the data, about 109,000 residents moved to the Nutmeg State.
Overall, the figures show Connecticut gained about 2,000 residents due to migration, though the data has notoriously high margins of error.
A majority of migration into and out of Connecticut happened in the Northeast
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Taylor Johnston / Hearst Connecticut Media • Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County-to-County Migration Flows: 2016-2020 ACS
In the Northeast, about 8,200 people from counties in New York City moved to Connecticut, and nearly 3,000 people moved from Westchester County in New York. About 1,000 more people moved from Hampden County in Massachusetts.
This could be attributed, at least in part, to the COVID-19 pandemic, where demand for housing shot up at the start of the pandemic and people were fleeing urban areas to have more space, experts have said.
Florida saw a large number of people move from CT
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1,000
2,000
Taylor Johnston / Hearst Connecticut Media • Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County-to-County Migration Flows: 2016-2020 ACS
Meanwhile, a large number of Connecticut residents moved to the South. For example, the state lost about 1,200 residents to Palm Beach as well as about 900 to Polk County – both in Florida.
Other Connecticut residents left for closer destinations. About 1,000 residents moved to Lehigh County in Pennsylvania.
Some reasons for the out-migration could be the high cost of living in Connecticut , including high property taxes and the high cost of housing , experts at CoStar, a real estate tracking company have said. Those factors may have made it difficult for residents to afford to stay in the state or choose to move here.
Some people may also leave Connecticut to follow their employer out of the state.
Last week, Lego Group announced that the company will be moving its North American headquarters from Enfield to Boston, with 740 jobs following. Lockheed Martin also announced that it was cutting 800 jobs from its rotary and mission systems division that includes Sikorsky based in Stratford.
The week before, the Pepperidge Farm headquarters announced its move to New Jersey.
These decisions further highlight the challenges the state is facing in retaining businesses.