New York City’s population has fallen 5.3% since the start of the pandemic – with more than 405,000 fleeing the Big Apple
- The introduction of working from home due to coronavirus, high taxes and the rise in the cost of living has led to huge population changes across the country
- Major cities such as New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago suffered the largest exodus of people in the US since the start of the pandemic
- The data revealed that most people are fleeing to the South and to smaller cities like San Antonio in Texas, Phoenix, Arizona and Port St. Lucie, Florida
Major cities such as New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago suffered the largest exodus of people in the US since the start of the pandemic.
The introduction of working from home due to coronavirus, high taxes and the rapid rise in the cost of living has led to huge population changes across the country.
New York City saw the greatest population decrease with an incredible 404,750 fall down to 8,335,897 between 2020 and 2022, the US Census Bureau revealed on Thursday. Chicago saw 75,037 leave and now has 2,665,039 residents and 73,598 citizens left Los Angeles where 3,822,238 people live.
The data revealed that most people are fleeing to the South and to smaller cities like San Antonio in Texas, Phoenix, Arizona and Port St. Lucie, Florida.
Among the hundreds and thousands making the move from major cities are billionaires Elon Musk, Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper and hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones.
Boston, Massachusetts suffered an exodus of 20,864 people as it saw its population shrink to 650,706 between 2020 and 2022 while 18,227 left Portland, Oregon which now has 635,067 residents.
Detroit, Michigan saw 16,966 move out of city and it now has a population of 620,376 and 13,208 departed from Baltimore in Maryland which has 569,931.
Memphis, Tennessee and Louisville, Kentucky, are the only southern cities in the top 10 outbound places with 10,112 and 7,997 people fleeing, leaving them with a population of 621,056 and 624,444 respectively.
Four out of the top 10 cities which had an influx of residents between 2020 and 2022 are in Texas with two in Arizona, two in Florida and one in Idaho and Nevada.
A total of 33,684 flocked to San Antonio, Texas to boost its population to 1,472,909, 33,133 people moved to Fort Worth, Texas which now has 956,709 residents and Phoenix, Arizona added 32,072 new inhabitants to its population of 1,612,337.
Other popular cities among Americans were in Florida with Port St. Lucie gaining 24,982 new residents, expanding its population to 231,790, and Cape Cora securing 21,584 extra people to boost its number of residents to 216,992.
The state of Florida gained more than 655,200 people between 2020 and 2022, according to the data.
While Georgetown in Texas enjoyed the largest population increase with 14.4 per cent more people, equivalent to 18,214, moving to the city which now has 86,507 inhabitants.
Henderson in Nevada saw 12,376 move to the city, taking its population to 331,415, and Buckeye in Arizona had an influx of 11,813 residents and its population now sits at 105,567.
And the population in Meridian in Idaho increased by 10,331 to 129,736 and McKinney, Texas, enjoyed a rise of 10,033 and has a total of 207,507 residents.
The new data suggests that the trend of people looking to leave the hustle and bustle of major cities- along with high taxes and living costs- is continuing.
It was brought about by the shift of flexible working which came as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and the need for more home space.
While experts have suggested that Americans are ‘voting with their feet’ and waving goodbye to eye-watering taxes, high living costs and bad job prospects in Democrat-leaning areas for better deals in red states.
Mark Perry, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank, said the overall population drift was from Democrat-run states to mostly Republican-administered boomtowns in the South and West of the country.
