The Latest On Net Internal Migration

Two months ago, I blogged on net internal migration--the number of nonimmigrants moving into or out of major counties from 2000 to 2005.

Last week, the Census Bureau published its figures for 2006, so I can update the numbers. I've listed first the counties with net positive in-migration, with the totals first for 2000-06 and then for 2005-06. You can see from the latter figures where in-migration is accelerating and decelerating. I've indicated the largest city in each county and the larger metropolitan area of which it is a part. I've also found that I excluded one county from my earlier post (Fort Bend, Texas), which I should have included.

Net internal in-migration is accelerating in Arizona and much of Florida, except for Palm Beach County, which has switched to net out-migration, as has San Joaquin County, Calif. (evidently the overflow frothe San Francisco Bay area has stopped). Loudoun County, Va., is less of a hot spot now (and the locals have elected a no-growth county board of supervisors), and so is San Bernardino County, Calif., but net internal in-migration into Riverside County, Calif., continues strong--presumably to the desert communities strung out on Highway 111 between Palm Springs and Indio.

There were sharp accelerations of net internal in-migration into Tarrant County, Texas, Wake County, N.C., and Mecklenburg County, N.C.

There has been similar growth in the 20-county Atlanta area, but only one county shows up on this list because the counties are relatively small. One county has fallen off the list altogether: Sacramento, which had a net internal out-migration of 8,019 in 2005-06, reducing its net internal in-migration figure for 2000-06 to 42,991.

Here are similar figures for the counties with net internal out-migration. I've led off with the total for the five boroughs of New York City, each of which is a separate county.

The outflow from the San Francisco Bay area has slowed down, but the outflow from coastal Southern California continues at a very fast rate. Two areas showed a turnaround--Harris County, Texas, where a major factor was the inflow of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina, and King County, Wash., where the tech turnaround has shown an effect similar to that in the Bay Area.

One county dropped off the list: Fulton, Ga. (Atlanta), which had a net internal in-migration of 13,328 in 2005-06, reducing its net internal out-migration in 2000-06 to 49,586. A similar effect, though not a reversal, was seen in the other central county in the Atlanta area, DeKalb, Ga.

By Michael Barone