The pandemic has upended lives in a variety of ways. One of those ways has been forcing Americans to reevaluate where they live. Major US cities have experienced something like an exodus this year as people ditch crowded metropolitan areas for destinations with more breathing room. StreetLight Data used transportation metrics to see where, exactly, people went once they left the cities. They compiled a list of the top 25 movement patterns in the spring of 2020 for people who lived in one of the top 10 major metropolitan areas.
Photo: StreetLight Data
The Top 25 Places Americans Relocated to During the Pandemic in 2020
These were the top 25 moves:
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL, to Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL
- Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ, to Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI
- New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA, to Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL
- New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA, to East Stroudsburg, PA
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA, to Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ
- New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA, to Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT
- New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA, to Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, NY
- New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA, to Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL, to Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA, to Bakersfield-Delano, CA
- New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA, to Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
- Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, to San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX
- Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA, to Jacksonville, FL
- Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA, to Gainesville, GA
- New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA, to New Haven-Milford, CT
- Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX, to Huntsville, TX
- New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA, to Pittsburgh, PA
- Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, to Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV
- New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA to Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH
- Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD, to Ocean City, NJ
- Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, to Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA, to Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL
- Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, to Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
- Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA, to Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL, to Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA
In March and April of 2020, people moved to areas that were between 22 and 33 percent less dense than their city of origin. By contrast, in March and April of 2019 people moved to destinations just one and two percent less dense. 