These States Lost the Most Population Last Year

Another year is in the books, which means there’s another year of data to analyze, too. A new publication by the Tax Foundation is also available. Analysis shedding light on which states gained the most population in 2022—and which ones saw residents leave in droves.

The analysis examined the time period between July 2021 and July 2022 and found overall US population growth was at 0.4%, but some states’ populations shrank while others grew. Florida saw 1.9% growth in population, and was the state with the highest population growth.

Other states with a 1% increase in population include Idaho and South Carolina.

The 5 states with the highest population loss were:

1. New York (-0.9%)
2. Illinois (-0.8%)
3. Louisiana (-0.8%)
4. West Virginia (-0.6%)
5. Hawaii (-0.5%)

Americans were moving in 2022. They chose low-tax state over high-tax. That’s the finding of recent U.S. Census Bureau population data and commercial datasets released this week by U-Haul and United Van Lines.https://t.co/TUAbsCT4iR @janellefritts pic.twitter.com/MDO9Zb5NJY

— Tax Foundation (@TaxFoundation) January 10, 2023

Have you noticed any trends?

Blue states are generally those that have high taxes and severely restricted economies. However, red states such as Texas, South Carolina and Florida are booming, with lower taxes and less-regulated economies. That’s just speculation, but it’s borne out in the data.

“People move for many reasons,” The Tax Foundation This is how it works. “Sometimes taxes are expressly part of the calculation. Often, they play an indirect role (by contributing to a broadly favorable economic environment). And other times, of course, they don’t factor in at all. The Census data and these industry studies cannot tell us exactly why each person moved, but there is no denying a very strong correlation between low-tax, low-cost states and population growth.”

It really is becoming so glaring that even New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently admitted their state needs to address its population drain—months after telling Republicans to “get out.”

Tell people to go.

They will go faster if you overregulate and tax them.

— Jim Stinson (@jimstinson) January 2, 2023

It’s interesting that some other states with Democratic leadership, like Colorado, didn’t see population declines. They have a low tax burden, and Jared Polis is moderately fiscally responsible.

So, if blue states want to stop the population drain, they simply need to stop taxing and regulating their economies into a coma—and then acting surprised when people head for freer pastures.

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