Colorado no longer a top 10 state for movers

The Common Sense Institute reports that Colorado is no longer a top 10 moving destination for those from other states. The Greenwood Village-based nonpartisan research organization released its findings Tuesday from an analysis of 2023 domestic migration data.

“Colorado’s boom economy was built in large part on a booming population growth,” said Kelly Caufield, CSI executive director. “Colorado is no longer the destination it once was. It’s no longer a top 10 spot for movers. It’s gaining more people from international migration than from domestic migration.”

Key findings of the report:

• Colorado is no longer a top 10 state for migration. Colorado ranked 16th for domestic + natural population gain in 2023 out of 30 that had a net increase. It ranked in the top 10 through the 2010s, including second in the nation in 2015.
• In terms of domestic migration, of the nearly 900,000 people who moved states, 53% of those movers went to Florida, Texas or North Carolina, with Florida and Texas each getting more than 20% of movers. Only 0.8% of the movers chose to move to Colorado.
• Colorado saw more of a net gain of Californians than any other state, nearly twice as many as from the next-highest state, Texas.
• Colorado lost more people to Nevada than any other state, followed by Oklahoma, Wyoming and Arkansas.
• The state’s total population increased by 36,571 people, reaching 5.878 million.
• This is 7,000 more people than in 2022 but less than half the average growth between 2011 and 2020.
• The state gained more people by moving in than it did by births. The natural increase in the state’s population – births minus deaths – was 17,399, 48% of growth.
• Colorado gained more people from international migration than domestic migration in 2022 and 2023.
• Colorado gained 11,931 individuals from international migration. This is nearly three times higher than in 2021
• Domestic migration increased slightly in 2023 to 7,236, just 16% of the average level of domestic migration between 2015 and 2019.