It’s likely no surprise to most Seattleites that the biggest source of movers from other states to the city is California.
Naturally, a more populous state like California would top the list because there’s a higher number of movers overall, but King County was also the No. 3 county for California movers from 2018 to 2022. Las Vegas and Phoenix’s counties took the No. 1 and No. 2 spots respectively.
The stereotype of Californians moving to Seattle has been the subject of ridicule for decades. An LA Times article from 1989 joked “Developers are turning the Seattle suburbs into a replica of Orange County.” One former Californian even started the group The United Californians Looking for Acceptance.
As Californians continued moving to the area throughout the 2000s, California-bashing of the late 20th century eventually made way for less hostile, but still prevalent, stereotypes.
The scale of the California exodus to Washington is shifting though.
Data at the state-level shows that fewer Californians are moving to the state than they were in the early 2000s. Instead, Texas, Florida, and Tennessee have seen an increasing share of out-of-state California movers.
And Californians aren’t the only movers coming to the region at lower levels.
Seattle’s shifting domestic migration
Over the past four years, more people have moved out of the Seattle metro area and to other U.S. states than have moved in.
This deceleration came after a period of rapid growth for the Seattle area.
Throughout the 2000s, high paying tech opportunities were more available than other cities and drove workers from other states as well as other countries. This led to an increasing cost of living throughout the region.
The pandemic was an inflection point for cities across the U.S. though. Urban populations plummeted as people worked remotely from new destinations. An analysis from the New York Times shows the Seattle metro saw some remote workers move away, but at lower levels than other high-cost cities.
Since 2020, Washington’s labor market hasn’t experienced the same boom times.
Its nonfarm job openings rate has remained below the U.S. at large, currently standing at 3.7% compared to 4.5% overall. Nationwide, job postings on Indeed for software developers remain below the pre-pandemic level. Regular rounds of layoffs have also struck the tech industry.
With fewer high-salaried opportunities, Seattle's cost of living, and lingering prevalence of remote work, more movers are looking to other more affordable regions. Cities in Oregon and California are also experiencing domestic outmigration trends, suggesting a waning interest in the West Coast.
Seattle’s rising cost of living, which some residents may blame Californians for, may now be what’s keeping other California transplants from relocating here.
