Thousands of people are moving to Tennessee. Here's where they are coming from

The U.S. Census Bureau released new data detailing which states people are moving to and from, and Tennessee is looking to be one of the more popular states for transplants from certain states. At the same time, thousands of people are leaving the state for other destinations in the Southeast.

The Census said roughly 8.2 million people moved between states in 2022, in its Nov. 2023 estimates. Mehreen Ismail with the Census said this continued a decade-long trend of rising state-to-state migration rates even though migration overall has declined. This means a larger percentage of people are staying put in homes they've lived in for years, but those who do end up moving are more often choosing to migrate to a different state.

The U.S. Census estimates Tennessee's population is close to 7 million people and growing. In the 2022 data, the Census estimated more than 6 million Tennesseans stayed in the same house as a year ago. Roughly 650,000 moved but stayed in Tennessee.

Per the Census analysis, the rate of people leaving Tennessee -- the outmigration rate -- was not statistically different from the national average. However, the rate of people moving to Tennessee from another state or country -- the inmigration rate -- was statistically higher than the national average.

With that in mind, here's which states people in Tennessee are coming from and going to.

Leaving Tennessee for:

1. Florida - 20,651
2. Georgia - 18,785
3. Texas - 12,617
4. Kentucky - 12,561
5. Alabama - 11,634
6. Mississippi - 11,406

As you can see from the map above, people are moving out of states in the orange like New York at a higher-than-average rate. However, Tennessee did not appear to be a particularly popular destination for New York transplants in the Census estimates. Instead, New Yorkers were heading to other states in the Northeast -- particularly neighboring New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Warmer destinations such as California and Florida were also popular. 

Coming to Tennessee from:

1. Florida - 25,318
2. California - 22,565
3. Georgia - 14,770
4. Texas -12,862
5. Illinois - 12,602
6. Virginia - 9,450

In all, the Census estimated nearly 183,000 Tennesseans moved out of state, while 226,000 people moved into the state in the 2022 estimates.