On the Records: Texas a Migration Hot Spot

Call it a modern day Ellis Island: More people are moving to Texas than to every other state but Florida, according to a report on migration released today by the Empire Center, a New York policy research project. The study uses 2010 Census data coupled with state historical data to trace back population changes in New York caused by migration over the last 50 years. It also includes data on every other state, which we’ve visualized below.

Overall, migration caused Texas’ population to grow by 1.78 million over the last decade. Nearly 1 million people moved to Texas from foreign countries, while the rest migrated from other parts of the United States. California was the only state to receive more foreign immigrants, at 1.9 million.

The states are ordered in the graph by the total net increase in population from foreign and domestic migration. Texas ranks second in total migration, just behind Florida. When researchers accounted for total population size, Texas had the eighth highest percentage growth due to foreign and domestic migration.  

The entire population migration report with the data used for this visualization can be found here.