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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s net domestic migration figures, the number of people who moved into the state versus the number of people moving out of the state, were on the positive side in the past year, according to the U.S. Census and other national studies.
Garrett Ballengee, executive director of the Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy recently appeared on MetroNews ‘Talkline’ to break down the latest figures from the U.S. Census. West Virginia had an overall population decline from July 1, 2020, to July 1, 2021 but there was a silver lining.
Between those dates, West Virginia had a net migration of 2,343 – that many more people moved into the state than moved away. The state still had an overall population decline during that time of about 7,000 because more people died than were born.
“2,343 looked around the county and said I want to move to West Virginia more than West Virginians themselves wanted to leave,” Ballengee said.
Ballengee noted that many of West Virginia’s neighboring states had a negative net domestic migration including Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Kentucky joined West Virginia as having a positive net domestic migration in that year.
On Monday, United Van Lines released the company’s 45th Annual National Movers Study and noted West Virginia was a top inbound state in the United States in 2021. South Dakota (69%), South Carolina (63%), West Virginia (63%) and Florida (62%) were also revealed as the top inbound states for 2021. That percentage is of inbound migration compared to outbound.
But as MetroNews’ Hoppy Kercheval pointed out from April 2010 to July 1, 2019, the state had a negative emigration of over 43,000. The number of residents in West Virginia has dropped from a peak of just over 2-million in 1950 to 1,782,959 as of July 1, 2021, according to the latest numbers from the U.S. Census.
Ballengee said it will be important to note if West Virginia can keep the trend of positive in-migration in the coming years
“If we get another year of positive net domestic migration then I think we can get encouraged and really be optimistic of what our state is doing,” he said.