Census Bureau data show that Florida was the number 1 destination for fleeing Minnesotans in 2022, with net loss of 4,700

In December last year, I wrote about newly released Census Bureau data which showed that, on net, Minnesota lost more residents to other parts of the United States in 2021-2022 than in any of the previous thirty years.

Where were they going? In May, I wrote about data from the Internal Revenue Service for the year 2020-2021 — the most recent available — which showed that Minnesota lost 5,766 residents, net, to Florida in 2020-2021, a 47% increase on the loss of 3,921 in the previous year.

Census Bureau data allow us to bring this estimate a little further up to date. Estimates of state-to-state migration flows for 2022 show that, for example, 4,521 people moved from Florida to Minnesota. They also show, however, that 9,192 people moved from Minnesota to Florida, for a net loss of 4,671 Minnesota residents to Florida.

As Figure 1 shows, Florida was the number 1 destination for Minnesotans fleeing the state. We also, however, lost residents to each of our neighbors — highlighted in yellow — with South Dakota receiving most Minnesotans on net and Wisconsin the least. This is interesting because I would have expected Wisconsin to be the top destination, with people skipping over the border but remaining close to the Twin Cities. The fact that those leaving Minnesota for its neighbors are going further away from the cities might suggest that they are losing their pull.

Figure 1: Net state-to-state migration, 2022

Minnesota’s persistent — and accelerating — loss of residents to other parts of the United States is one of the gravest economic challenges facing the state. Where those Minnesotans are heading to gives you some idea of why we are losing them.