The state of New York suffered a net population loss of more than 240,000 people as more than half a million New Yorkers migrated to other states in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
The American Community Survey is a published estimate of state-to-state migration flows. The survey asks respondents who moved in the past year to report their previous place of residence to assess changes in a state’s demographic and economic profiles. The ACS is published annually and the most recent findings were released this November.
Florida was the largest recipient of former New York residents, with more than 91,000 people relocating to the Sunshine State.
Most New Yorkers, however, did not stray far as more than 170,000 residents relocated to bordering states. About 75,000 people relocated to New Jersey, more than 50,000 people migrated to Connecticut, and nearly 45,000 people moved to Pennsylvania.
The next most popular states for New Yorkers were California and Texas, with roughly 31,000 residents relocating to each. In total, about 545,500 people left New York in 2022.
It is not surprising that New Yorkers are looking for greener pastures as the cost of living remains high.
New York City’s Manhattan borough is the most expensive place to live in the United States, according to the Council for Community and Economic Research’s Cost of Living Index. The index found that living costs in Manhattan are 122% higher than the U.S. average. The high costs of living in Manhattan have created a cost spillover effect, with the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens now among the fourth- and 13th-most expensive places to live, respectively
And the cost of living is projected to only go up, according to market observers. A poll conducted during a CoStar New York apartment webinar has found that rents are widely expected to keep rising, with 86% of respondents projecting a year-over-year increase, 10% of respondents expecting rents to remain flat, and just 4% of respondents predicting an annual decline in rents.
In the same webinar, users overwhelmingly ranked rising rents and the cost of living in New York City as having the largest potential impact on future renter demand.
If rents continue to rise in the Empire State, the likelihood of continued outmigration is all but a certainty in 2023.