The Most Popular U.S. Cities Americans Are Moving to

If you’ve felt like Americans aren’t bouncing between cities the way they used to, you’re absolutely right.

We’re in a record-low era of moving! In the 1960s, one in five Americans packed up every year. Go further back to the 19th century, and it was nearly one in three. Today, just 11% of Americans changed their address in 2024, which is the lowest rate since the Census started tracking the data in 1948. So yes, we’re staying put… but the people who do move are making some fascinating choices.

According to a new Point2Homes analysis, mobility may be slowing overall, but interstate relocations remain surprisingly steady. Roughly 19% of movers crossed state lines last year, and when you zoom in, a clear pattern emerges: a handful of cities are becoming the country’s go-to landing spots.

U.S. Cities Attracting the Most New Residents

Visual Capitalist took this data to create a visual of the most popular cities:

No city pulls in out-of-state movers like Las Vegas, where 33% of all newcomers arrived from a different state. That’s the highest share in the country!

When you shift from “share” to raw numbers, the giants dominate:

• New York City: 702,000+ newcomers (143,000 from out of state)
• Los Angeles: 371,000
• Houston: 356,000

This doesn’t mean big cities are gaining residents overall (many aren’t), but they continue to attract huge inflows every year thanks to jobs, universities, and cultural gravity.

Why Americans Are Moving Less

It’s worth understanding the background. Mobility is falling for a bunch of seemingly different (but actually intertwined) reasons: sky-high housing prices, economic uncertainty, and the rise of remote work.  Homeownership also plays a big role here.

With about 65% of Americans now owning homes (compared to roughly 45% in the early 1900s), more people are tied to mortgages and neighborhoods they’re not eager to leave. But the moves that do happen say a lot about what people want… and what they’re running from.

Why This Matters, Even If You’re Staying Put

Zooming out, it’s clear that Americans aren’t moving as often, but when they do, the move tends to be meaningful. Often, it’s either to a new city or an entirely new state. The states that are winning the most movers have an undeniably appealing combination of factors: affordability, opportunity, and lifestyle.

So even in a country where mobility has slowed to a crawl, Americans are still reshaping the map. Just a bit more slowly!