Story at a glance
- New data from SmartAsset show more young wealthy Americans are moving to states like Florida and Texas, where there is no income tax.
- States like New Jersey, North Carolina and Washington are also becoming popular among these workers.
- In contrast, more professionals are moving out of the District of Columbia, Illinois and Massachusetts.
The coastal hubs of New York City and Los Angeles may have beckoned young professionals in the past, but new data suggest these workers are actually leaving California and New York in the thousands and prefer to live closer to their hometowns.
Experts at SmartAsset, a personal finance website, set out to investigate which states are gaining and losing professionals younger than age 35 who make an adjusted gross income of at least $100,000.
New York led the states with the biggest outflow of young professionals, as it saw nearly 15,800 high-earning young professionals leave in 2020, significantly more than any state, authors wrote.
“About 28,700 rich young professionals left the state between 2019 and 2020 while fewer than 13,000 moved there,” the report said.
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California followed suit. Despite the two previous reports showing relatively level migration into and out of California, in 2020 the state saw a net outflow of 7,960 rich young professionals, marking the second-highest net outflow across all states assessed.
To rank the states, researchers analyzed Internal Revenue Service data for each state and the District of Columbia between 2019 and 2020.
Wealthy young professionals also tended to move out of states like Illinois, Massachusetts, Virginia, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Louisiana and the District of Columbia.
“Relative to its population, the District of Columbia saw the largest proportion of rich young professionals moving elsewhere, with a net outflow of almost 2,100,” authors wrote.
In contrast, data show rich young professionals are moving to Texas and Florida, two states that notably do not tax income. In 2020, each state saw a net inflow of more than 3,400, while Texas came out on top as the most popular destination.
More young wealthy professionals also moved to Washington, New Jersey, North Carolina, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Tennessee and Oregon than those who left.
The research comes on the heels of previous data that revealed more high-income Americans are moving to the nation’s Sunbelt region.
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