In the first five months of the COVID-19 pandemic, 15.9 million Americans moved. This is up 3.92 percent from the same period the previous year. But even before COVID some of the biggest states saw a decrease in population. Many attribute this to the high cost of living, property, and income taxes. We used Data-Z to look at some changes in populations.
California has been the most populous state since 1962, and since then the population has more than doubled. At the end of 2019, California had over 39.5 million residents. The state did see a 40,000 person decrease from 2018 to 2019. This could be a result of many factors, including changing climates affecting wildfires or Californians leaving the state for no income tax states.
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Another state that is dealing with a decline in population due to high income and property taxes in Illinois. Illinois has seen a small but steady decrease every year since 2014. While Illinois saw a decrease in population, its neighbor to the east, Indiana, gained six people per every 1,000 from 2018-2019.
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Alaska saw the lowest population rate of change per 1,000, meaning they lost 7 people out of every 1,000 people in 2019. Following close behind was West Virginia at 7.58. The other states that saw a decrease in the population were California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.
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Utah has the highest percent of the population between ages 1-19 at 32 percent. Maine has the lowest percentage at 20.7 percent. On the other end of the spectrum, Utah has the second-lowest percentage of people over the age of 75 at 4.5 percent, just above Alaska at 3.9 percent. The Snowbird State (aka Florida) has the highest percentage at 9.5 percent.
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In the last nine months, many large cities have seen a mass exodus. Many residents are moving to the suburbs or different states. Cities, like New York, that are known for their small apartments and high rents are being hit hard by people who do not want to pay to live in a city that they cannot fully enjoy.
Make sure to follow Data-Z and Truth in Accounting to see 2020’s updated population data.
Kate Brennan is a marketing and social media intern at Truth in Accounting, a nonprofit organization based in Chicago that researches government financial data.
