Thousands of People Moved to the Rural South During the First Year of the Pandemic. Where Did They Come From?

Out of all the people who moved from larger cities to rural areas in 2021, two-thirds wound up living in the rural South, a Daily Yonder analysis of IRS data shows. 

Southern rural counties attracted 65% of the people who moved from metropolitan to nonmetropolitan counties in 2021. The region that attracted the next largest share was the Midwest, which had 25% of the nation’s rural in-migrants. 

The rural South is part of a larger trend of rural growth nationwide. We reported on this national trend in March, when the Census released population estimates showing...