Kingsport Spirit

Migration numbers can look like mind-numbing spreadsheet trivia—until you realize they’re quietly revealing who’s voting with their feet, and why Kingsport keeps showing up in the story.

The Census Bureau just released its state-to-state migration data for 2024. We’re already into 2026, so it’s a lagging indicator. To keep the comparison fair, this analysis uses the same time frame for Kingsport, even though more recent local tracking exists. Confused yet? The short version is that we’re comparing apples to apples.

Start with the standard metric: domestic net migration, meaning moves between U.S. states. Net is simply inflows minus outflows. Using that definition, the Top 10 “winner” states in 2024 were led by Texas (+71,840) and Florida (+66,926), followed by North Carolina (+57,924), Arizona (+56,045), South Carolina (+54,934), Nevada (+40,211), Georgia (+37,325), Tennessee (+35,887), Oklahoma (+34,160), and Alabama (+22,450). The geography is unmistakable: the growth engine is concentrated in the South and Sunbelt.

The Top 10 domestic net out-migration states in 2024 tell the counter-story—again, with real numbers attached: California (−251,901), New York (−132,114), Illinois (−80,378), New Jersey (−62,457), Massachusetts (−29,984), Colorado (−22,640), Pennsylvania (−15,650), Louisiana (−11,769), Alaska (−10,386), and Iowa (−10,218). These are best understood less as a political map and more as a set of structural pressures that push households to “shop states” for a better fit. In the biggest losers, the common drivers are a housing squeeze (high prices and limited inventory), stacked costs (taxes, fees, utilities, and rising insurance), and greater mobility as hybrid/remote work expands options. Climate and insurance risk also matter—wildfire and coverage constraints in California, hurricane exposure in Louisiana—while smaller states like Alaska and Iowa can show large net losses from comparatively modest numeric shifts.

Now add a second layer that is often discussed loosely but measured differently: international inflow (movers from a foreign country). If you combine domestic net with international inflow, you get a re-ranked picture of which states are gaining the most movers when both streams are considered. Under that combined lens, the Top 10 “net including foreign” states in 2024 were Texas (+386,454), Florida (+354,974), North Carolina (+143,553), Georgia (+119,701), Arizona (+117,174), Washington (+97,857), South Carolina (+82,038), Ohio (+74,942), Tennessee (+74,046), and Virginia (+71,457). The key shift isn’t that Texas and Florida stay on top—they do—but that Washington and Virginia rise sharply because international inflow is large enough to move the needle. Ohio also enters the top tier under this combined measure even though it is not in the domestic top 10.

This combined lens clears up a common misconception. California can post an enormous international inflow and still rank as a domestic “loser,” because its domestic outflow is so large. International inflow can cushion domestic losses; it does not automatically reverse them.

Now bring it down to Kingsport. In the 12 months ending December 2024, Kingsport recorded 659 household moves into the city. The Top 10 origin states were Tennessee (142), Florida (107), North Carolina (56), California (37), Texas (31), Virginia (28), South Carolina (21), Kentucky (18), and then Georgia (17) and New York (17) tied. Pennsylvania (14), Washington (13), and Colorado (12) were close behind.

Two points stand out: Kingsport’s inflow is steady and practical—driven by affordability, housing fit, family ties, and lifestyle. It draws strongly from national “winner” states (Florida, the Carolinas, Georgia, Texas) while also attracting notable movers from “loser” states, especially California and New York.

In short, this isn’t a stampede; it’s a consistent stream of deliberate moves—nearby for family, or long-distance for a reset to a right-size community. When a community pulls from both sides of the migration map, it signals that people believe life can work better here.