From Seattle to sunny California: The West Coast migration trend

When Washingtonians move out of state, they're typically staying closer to home, opting for the laid-back style of other West Coast and Southwest states, per new census data.

Why it matters: While moving overall is at an all-time low, there's been an uptick in state-to-state migration, as Axios' Erica Pandey reports .

How it works: The data is based on the newly released 2018-2022 five-year state-to-county migration estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey.

• The estimates are best understood as a pooled average covering that time frame.

By the numbers: California was the top destination for Washingtonians moving out of state, with an average of 35,000 residents moving there each year between 2018 and 2022, according to the data.

• Oregon was the second most popular destination, with 23,000 moving to our neighbor each year in that same period.
• Arizona and Texas both netted close to 19,000 former Washingtonians each over those four years, and Idaho picked up more than 16,000.

Yes, but: A little more than 230,000 Washingtonians packed up and moved within the state, according to the data.

• According to Zillow data provided to Axios, Spokane and Bremerton are the top cities in Washington where Seattle metro residents are searching for homes.

The big picture: Domestic in-migration to the state was down overall last year compared with pre-pandemic figures, according to the Seattle Times , which looked at state Department of Licensing data.

• The number of licenses issued to people moving to Washington from California was down 24% in October 2023 compared with October 2019.
• Immigration from other countries was up, however, with the most new licenses issued to people arriving from Mexico, Canada and Ukraine, the Times reported.

The bottom line: Most Americans stay close to home — but plenty are still making big moves, whether for a job, an education or family reasons.