Wyoming is Growing, Where Are the New Residents Moving From?

“Employment opportunities have always been the driving factor for Wyoming’s migration trend, but the pandemic played a significant role in 2020. Many people chose to relocate to less populated, lower cost areas during the pandemic, and the increased availability of remote work made this possible.” ~ State of Wyoming Department of Administration & Information

The largest net migration to Wyoming during the pandemic was from California (1,391), followed by Colorado (1,233) and New York (298) read a recent report from the State Department of Administration & Information.

Wyoming also added over 100 residents from Illinois, North Dakota, Oregon, and Washington, respectively. Idaho led Wyoming’s net outmigration with 547 more people switching residency. Arizona, Texas, Montana, and Florida also gained at least 200 residents each from Wyoming.

According to the State of Wyoming Department of Administration & Information, Wyoming has the highest population exchanges with Colorado.

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About 17% of all new Wyoming residents were from Colorado, while residents moving out-of-state and into Colorado was about 13%.

Other states high on the list for population exchange with the Cowboy State include California, Texas, Arizona and Washington, as well as Wyoming'sd neighboring states.

Altogether, these 10 states make up about 60% of Wyoming's migration flows.

In recent years, the annual number of migrants who moved into or out of Wyoming was double the national average.

“Americans may move many times during their adult lives due to factors such as a job change, education, change of household or family, change in financial status, retirement, access to amenities, or just a change in lifestyle,” said Dr. Wenlin Liu, Chief Economist with the State of Wyoming, Economic Analysis Division.

IRS numbers show that the state experienced a positive net migration (inflow minus outflow) of roughly 1,400 persons between 2019 and 2020.

This is a reversal from the many years the state endured more people leaving than moving in.

“Employment opportunities have always been the driving factor for Wyoming’s migration trend, but the pandemic played a significant role in 2020,” continued Dr. Liu.

“Many people chose to relocate to less populated, lower cost areas during the pandemic, and the increased availability of remote work made this possible.”

The average adjusted gross income (AGI) for Inflow Returns in 2020 was 92.6% higher than the Outflow Returns.

For migrant householders younger than 26 years old, the number of Outflows exceeded the number of Inflows. However, the number of Inflows was 19% percent higher than Outflows for householders between 45 and 64 years old, and was 9.2% higher for householders 65 years and over.

The average AGI for middle-aged and older (age 35 and over) in-migrants was significantly higher than out-migrants in the similar age groups.

For example, the average AGI for in-migrant householders aged 45-54 was 3.6X as much as out-migrants in the same age group.

“The first year of COVID-19 appeared to have prompted a number of professionals with higher earnings and 'work at home' opportunities to relocate to Wyoming,” commented Dr. Liu.

Previously for many years, more people age 65 and over moved out of Wyoming than moved in.

This trend was reversed since the pandemic started, resulting in a positive net migration of over 200 elderly individuals in 2020.

“Perhaps a few more households with high income chose to early retire or retire in Wyoming because of pandemic concerns.”

Migration data for the United States are produced by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Statistics of Income Division (SOI), and the tabulation is based on year-to-year address changes reported on individual income tax returns, combined with the number of personal exemptions or individuals.

These data are extracted from the IRS Individual Master File, which contains administrative information collected for every Form 1040, 1040A, and 1040EZ processed by the IRS.

LOOK: The most extreme temperatures in the history of every state

Stacker consulted 2021 data from the NOAA's State Climate Extremes Committee (SCEC) to illustrate the hottest and coldest temperatures ever recorded in each state. Each slide also reveals the all-time highest 24-hour precipitation record and all-time highest 24-hour snowfall.

Keep reading to find out individual state records in alphabetical order.

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Source: Wyoming is Growing, Where Are the New Residents Moving From?