More than Two-thirds of the Nation Still Lives in Their Home State

In which states do folks tend to stay home? Here's a look at Americans still living in their birth states. New York and Louisiana top the list. Upwards of 82% of the US-born residents living in New York and Louisiana were born there. Looking at the map, you can see that the highest numbers reside in the rust belt and northeast. The most transplants tend to live in natural amenity rich western states, except for California.

More than 72% of US born Californians were born in the state. That number is over 74% in LA county, but only about 60% in San Diego. Other high transplant areas include New Hampshire and Vermont in the northeast, and not surprisingly the Washington DC area, Florida, and Nevada.

Only 41.7% of US born Alaskans were born there. I suppose if you are living in Alaska, you've come there for good reason.

Take a look at an extension of this analysis: Does a low number of home staters mean everyone has left?


Percent of Native Population Born in their Current State of Residence
Geographic area Percent Margin of Error
New York 82.1 +/-0.1
Louisiana 82 +/-0.2
Michigan 80.6 +/-0.1
Pennsylvania 79.6 +/-0.1
Ohio 77.8 +/-0.1
Illinois 77.4 +/-0.1
Iowa 75.4 +/-0.3
Wisconsin 75.3 +/-0.2
Massachusetts 74.7 +/-0.2
Minnesota 73.8 +/-0.2
Kentucky 73.6 +/-0.2
Mississippi 73.4 +/-0.3
Alabama 73.2 +/-0.3
West Virginia 72.9 +/-0.3
Texas 72.3 +/-0.1
North Dakota 72.1 +/-0.4
California 71.8 +/-0.1
Indiana 71.4 +/-0.2
Nebraska 69.7 +/-0.3
Missouri 68.9 +/-0.2
Utah 68.5 +/-0.3
Rhode Island 67.9 +/-0.6
South Dakota 67.5 +/-0.5
United States 67.3 +/-0.1
Maine 66.5 +/-0.5
Hawaii 65.6 +/-0.5
New Jersey 65.4 +/-0.2
Tennessee 65 +/-0.2
Oklahoma 64.8 +/-0.2
North Carolina 64.1 +/-0.2
Connecticut 64 +/-0.3
Arkansas 63.8 +/-0.3
South Carolina 63.4 +/-0.3
Kansas 62.7 +/-0.3
Georgia 61.5 +/-0.2
New Mexico 57 +/-0.4
Virginia 56.3 +/-0.2
Montana 55.3 +/-0.5
Maryland 54.6 +/-0.3
Vermont 54.5 +/-0.5
Washington 53.7 +/-0.2
Oregon 50.2 +/-0.3
Delaware 50 +/-0.6
Idaho 48.7 +/-0.4
Colorado 46.9 +/-0.3
District of Columbia 45.5 +/-0.7
New Hampshire 44.4 +/-0.4
Wyoming 43.3 +/-0.8
Alaska 41.7 +/-0.6
Arizona 41.7 +/-0.3
Florida 41.4 +/-0.1
Nevada 27.8 +/-0.4

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2005-2007 American Community Survey