Why Are Americans Fleeing Blue States for Red States?

You may vote red or blue, but would you rather live in a blue state or a red state? Regardless of what people do at the ballot box, newly released data from the Census Bureau overwhelmingly show people voting with their feet, leaving blue states for red states. And this is nothing new.

From July 2024 to July 2025 (the latest numbers available), blue states like California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, and Massachusetts hemorrhaged their most valuable resource—people—at an alarming rate.

These were the five worst states for net domestic migration, meaning more people left those states than moved in, for a combined net loss of 477,000 in just 12 months. Since 2020, these five deep-blue states have cumulative net losses reaching almost 3.7 million people in total. That's a lot of one-way U-Hauls.