Woke high-tax New England stronghold has lost 200K residents to other states over the past 5 years

Massachusetts, long a bastion of progressive politics and high taxes, has quietly watched the equivalent of one-and-a-half Cambridges pack up and leave.

A new analysis from the Pioneer Institute finds that more than 182,000 net domestic residents exited the commonwealth between April 2020 and July 2025, a sustained outflow that researchers describe as a lasting structural shift rather than a brief pandemic aftershock.

The report, "The Massachusetts' Labor Force: Now and Beyond," paints a picture of a state grappling with affordability pressures, demographic decline and slowing economic momentum.