(The Center Square) — New York saw its population shrink again last year, with hundreds of thousands of residents fleeing to Florida, New Jersey and other low-tax states.
An estimated 545,598 moved out of the Empire State in 2022, offset by a net gain of about 240,000 people moving into the state, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest American Community Survey.
The census figures show that the most popular destination for people leaving New York was Florida, with an estimated 91,201 moving down to the Sunshine State.
New Jersey was the second most popular state, picking up 71,670 former New Yorkers last year.
Other top states for departing New Yorkers were Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Texas and California, according to the census data.
The number of New Yorkers relocated to Texas hit an all-time high in 2022, or more than 30,000, the data shows. That’s a 67% increase from 18,000 in 2019.
The least popular destinations for fleeing New Yorkers in 2021 were Wyoming, Montana, Iowa, Mississippi and South Dakota, which each saw less than 500 people relocate from the Northeast state.
Critics point to the state’s high cost of living, a pressing housing shortage and other issues that are prompting New Yorkers to flee to other states.
The population decline has major implications for the states, revenue and tax collections, federal data shows.
New York lost an eye-popping $24.5 billion in state-adjusted gross income in 2021 as residents fled to New Jersey, Florida and other low-tax states, according to Internal Revenue Service figures.
Based on income tax returns filed in 2020 and 2021, IRS data shows the Empire State lost more than 261,785 residents in a 12-month span ending last July, driven by “domestic out-migration” of people moving to other states. The data shows the state lost an estimated $45 billion in taxable income during those two years.
Overall, New York lost the ability to tax a cumulative $1.1 trillion in adjusted gross income due to net out-migration from 2000 to 2020, according to Wirepoints, an independent research firm. In 2020 alone, the state would have collected nearly $144 billion in AGI to tax had it not been for the yearly migration losses.
New York was ranked second to last in the nation among 50 states in the Tax Foundation’s 2024 State Business Tax Climate Index, released this week, which showed the average resident pays $2,273 a year in state and local taxes.
Democratic lawmakers in Albany have pushed to increase taxes even higher, with proposals for a new surtax on New York’s earners making above $5 million a year.
