New York”™s high numbers of arriving foreign immigrants in recent years offset much of the continued exodus of residents from New York to other states ”“ the largest domestic migration in the nation ”“ according to recent estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The census migration data from 2010-2013 was first reported last month by the Empire Center for Public Policy Inc; an independent nonprofit think tank in Albany that advocates for government policy reforms based on free-market principles.
Over a one-year period ending July 1 last year, New York saw a net loss of 104,470 residents to other states, the Census Bureau estimated. That number far exceeded states with the next highest net population losses for the year ”“ Illinois with 67,313 residents and California with 49,259 residents.
Over a three-year period starting in 2010, the exodus of residents from New York to other states was the largest in numbers in the nation, amounting to a net migration loss of 328,538 persons, the Census Bureau estimated. That was a 1.7 percent decline from New York”™s population in the 2010 census.
Illinois over the same three-year period sustained the largest percentage loss in population, 1.75 percent, with an estimated 224,704 residents migrating to other states.
New York”™s three-year loss followed a decade in which nearly 1.6 million New Yorkers moved to other states, Empire Center president Edmund J. McMahon noted in a report last month.
McMahon noted that Florida, which is about to pass New York as the nation”™s third most populous state behind California and Texas, gained an estimated 308,152 residents from 2010 through July 2013, a 1.64 percent increase. The Sunshine State, a popular destination for relocating New Yorkers, in the year ending last July received 91,484 migrants from other states.
Florida”™s ascent in the country”™s population rankings was aided too by a three-year influx of foreign immigrants estimated at 310,822 persons. The state”™s net migration over the three-year period totaled 618,974 persons, a 14.3 percent increase.
New York attracted an estimated 318,132 foreign immigrants during the three-year span, a 1.64 percent increase from the 2010 population. Only California received more foreign immigrants, 389,166, during the same period.
Foreign immigration reduced New York”™s net migration loss for the three-year period to an estimated 10,406 persons. New York had an estimated net migration of 2,672 residents from 2012 to 2013.
New Jersey lost an estimated 148,150 residents from 2010 to 2013. a 1.69 percent decrease that closely rivaled New York”™s second lowest ranking in percentage decline. Its losses too were offset by foreign immigration, with an estimated 145,374 persons planting new roots in the Garden State  during the three-year period.
Connecticut lost an estimated 50,500 residents to other states over the three-year period, ranking it 47th among the 50 states and District of Columbia in percentage decline. Connecticut, though, gained 49,186 foreign immigrants in those three years, reducing its net migration loss to 1,314 residents.
