Massachusetts Population Grows, Yet Residents Keep Leaving

Massachusetts reportedly experienced its greatest population increase in 60 years between 2023 and 2024, but according to U-Haul, the Commonwealth continues to bleed out residents who are beating a path for the exits.

According to U-Haul's annual "Growth Index," the states with the most people leaving continue to be California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts.

So where is everyone going?

Where Massachusetts Residents Are Moving

U-Haul said Texas tops the list of in-migration states. Folks are also headed to Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

The CommonWealth Beacon reported recently that Massachusetts' population is shifting from rural Western Massachusetts to urbanized Eastern Massachusetts. Much of the shift has to do with the large influx of migrants into the state who tend to settle in more urban settings.

Get our free mobile app

Why People Are Leaving the Commonwealth

High housing and energy costs, as well as transportation issues, are contributing to the exodus. Weather may play a role to some extent, but politics may be a contributing factor, too.

"Seven of the top 10 growth states currently feature Republican governors, and nine of those states went red in the last presidential election," U-Haul said. "Conversely, nine of the bottom ten growth states feature Democrat governors, and seven of those states went blue in the last presidential election."

Recent polling indicates that financial issues are not the main reason folks are leaving Massachusetts behind.

How Migration Is Reshaping Massachusetts

Since 2020, Massachusetts has seen a significant influx of immigrants, with as many as 250,000 new arrivals estimated between 2020 and 2024. It's believed that 90,000 migrants poured into Massachusetts just from 2023 to 2024.

The population of Massachusetts was 7,029,917 according to U.S. Census Bureau data for 2020. The population is expected to swell to 7,742,628 by 2024.