Nearly 250K people moved to WA state last year. Which states did new residents come from?

Washington state is nearing 8 million total residents, according to the last count from the state Office of Financial Management. Growth is remaining fairly steady, growing at slightly below last decade’s yearly average of 98,200 new residents each year. At last estimate, the Evergreen State grew by 86,750 residents over the last year, a comfortable difference from the average.

But have you ever wondered where new Washingtonians hail from? Here’s what we know after evaluating new data from the U.S. Census Bureau on state-to-state migration in America in 2022.

Where new Washingtonians come from

According to Census data, these are the top three states where most new Washingtonians moved from in 2022:

1. California
2. Oregon
3. Texas

Overall, more than 248,000 people moved to Washington from another U.S. state in 2022. Nearly 50,000 came from California alone.

However, there were more new Washingtonians from foreign countries than there were from California. The Golden State couldn’t break 50,000 moves to Washington, but 57,785 new residents came from out of the country, according to the data. A breakdown of migration to Washington from specific countries was not available.

The second-most moves came from the state sandwiched between Washington and California. Oregon brought just over 36,000 new Washingtonians in 2022. Texas, in third place, brought around 19,000 new residents to the state.

The remaining top ten states with the most residents migrating to Washington state in 2022 were:

• Idaho - 10,557
• Colorado - 9,396
• Florida - 8,368
• Virginia - 7,406
• Hawaii - 7,392
• North Carolina - 5,849
• Massachusetts - 5,773

The Census Bureau data lists a margin of error for each data point, meaning numbers are not exact. The data and subsequent margins of error listings are available online.

States with the most growth

Several states saw more new residents than Washington. In this aspect, the Evergreen State was beat out by states that are bigger, more popular and with warmer climates, but still ranked fairly well overall. The states with the most new residents were:

• Florida - 738,969
• Texas - 668,338
• California - 475,803
• North Carolina - 341,582
• Georgia - 327,795

Coincidentally, all five of these states made the top ten highest contributors to new Washington residents.