Minnesota lost nearly 20,000 residents to other states in 2022.
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the state of Minnesota lost 19,400 residents to domestic migration from July 2021 to July 2022.
The Center of the American Experiment, a public policy think tank based in Minnesota, said the loss was “by far the highest number in at least three decades.” In the year prior, Minnesota saw a net domestic migration loss of 13,453 residents.
Census data compiled by the think tank shows that since 2001 there have only been two calendar years (2017 and 2018) where more U.S. residents moved to Minnesota than moved away.
American Experiment economist John Phelan attributed the domestic migrations to the high-tax policies of Gov. Tim Walz.
“Once again Minnesota experienced an alarming loss of people to other states,” he said in a statement. “These numbers ought to wake Gov. Walz up to the scale of the problem and underline the need for bold measures. We should use the forecast budget surplus to cut tax rates, which research shows influence where people locate.”
Earlier this year Tax Foundation, a politically independent nonprofit, found that Minnesota was the eighth-worst state for individual income tax levels, only behind states like New Jersey, New York, and California, among others.
Those other high-tax states saw residents leave in even greater numbers than Minnesota. For instance, the states of New Jersey, New York, and California had a combined 707,018 residents leave for other states this year.
The Census data shows the most popular destinations for interstate migration by far were Texas and Florida.
Despite Minnesota’s domestic migration losses, its estimated population increased by 5,721 from last year, or less than 1%. According to the Census data, this was mostly driven by 11,617 more births than deaths, as well as a net increase of international migration, with 14,194 people coming to Minnesota from foreign countries.
Evan Stambaugh
Evan Stambaugh is a freelance writer who had previously been a sports blogger. He has a BA in theology and an MA in philosophy.
