According to migration data released last week by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the state of Alabama gained tens of thousands of net residents and hundreds of millions of dollars in adjusted gross income (AGI) in 2022, outpacing several other Southern states of comparable size.
The IRS report shows the South as a whole attracted massive streams of migrants from the coasts: California, New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey were all among the top five states for outbound migration. Alabama was one of the top benefactors of this exodus, as the Yellowhammer State saw a population increase of 22,706 and an AGI increase of $798,963,000.
Nearly all of Alabama’s 67 counties attracted more residents than they lost, although several of the state’s biggest counties — Montgomery, Jefferson, and Mobile — each saw hundreds of citizens move to different states. Madison County was the only major county to buck this trend, pulling in a state-leading net gain of 4,892 interstate migrants.
Baldwin County also saw substantial growth, bringing in a net gain of 4,530 interstate migrants and gaining over $300,000 in AGI, by far the highest mark of any of Alabama’s counties. Limestone, Houston, and Morgan Counties attracted over 800 new residents each, while Lee, Marshall, Elmore, and Lauderdale Counties all saw AGI increases of over $30,000.
As a whole, Alabama gained over 50,000 more interstate migrants than did similarly-populated Louisiana, over 23,000 more than did Mississippi, and over 8,000 more than did Arkansas. The Yellowhammer State even outperformed some of its more populous neighbors: Georgia, for example, brought in a net total of 51,489 new residents, but gained $85 million less in AGI than Alabama did.
South Carolina was the only similarly-populated Southern state to turn in a more productive year than Alabama, as the Palmetto State saw tens of thousands of people flock to its beaches.
Alabama was also outpaced in growth by both Tennessee and Florida, the latter of which gained nearly 250,000 new residents and over $36 billion in AGI, by far the largest figure of any state in the country.
In fact, each of the top five AGI gainers were Southern states: Florida, Texas ($10.1 billion), South Carolina ($4.8 billion), Tennessee ($4.7 billion) and North Carolina ($4.6 billion). Those figures stand in stark contrast to the other end of the spectrum, where states like California (-$23.8 billion), New York (-$14.2 billion), Illinois (-$9.8 billion), and New Jersey (-$5.3 billion) stood as the biggest AGI losers.
For the second consecutive year, California lost more citizens to migration than any other state, with over 300,000 residents seeking opportunities in other parts of America. Thousands of Californians settled in Alabama’s Madison, Jefferson, and Shelby Counties, among others.
Charles Vaughan is a contributing writer at Yellowhammer News.
