Nearly 4,400 people moved from Alabama to Kentucky in 2019, the most in a year since at least 2010, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. It’s one of a handful of states that saw a larger-than-average influx of Alabamians last year.
Overall, fewer than 99,000 Alabamians moved to some other state in 2019, while around 105,000 people moved into Alabama from elsewhere in the United States. Most of the people who moved away stayed relatively close by - more than 29,000 went to either Georgia or Florida. Another 10,000 went to either Tennessee or Mississippi.
Outside of the state’s immediate neighbors, Texas saw the most relocated Alabamians. Nearly 9,000 people moved from Alabama to Texas.
But Kentucky represents a somewhat surprising destination for outgoing Alabama movers last year. The 4,400 people who moved there ranks sixth out of any state in the country, and is more than moved from Alabama to Mississippi.
And unlike neihboring states, Kentucky didn’t return Alabama’s favor, as only 1,500 people moved from there to Alabama. That resulted in a net loss of nearly 3,000 people for Alabama, the largest net population loss due to migration from Alabama to any state in 2019.
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Including Kentucky, Alabama lost a net of at least 1,000 people to six different states, the others being Missouri, Colorado, Wyoming, Virginia and North Carolina. Around 1,200 people moved from Alabama to Wyoming last year, while none moved back.
Alabama also saw a net loss in population to Georgia for the first time in several years. It wasn’t a big loss - just 176 people - but it represents a reversal in a long-running trend. Alabama has reliably gained net population from Georgia since 2010, averaging a net gain of more than 4,000 people per year over that time.
The 4,400 people who moved to Kentucky from Alabama also represent a new trend, a sudden increase over recent years. That’s more than double the number who moved to Kentucky in 2018, and about 2,100 more than the average over the last decade. In fact, it’s a bit of a reversal over 2018′s numbers, when 4,200 people moved to Alabama from the Bluegrass State.
Looking at total departures, and not accounting for how many each state sent back, Colorado and California each cracked the top 10 most popular destinations for Alabamians in 2019. They were the only non-Southern states to do so. Last year, 3,400 people moved from Alabama to Colorado, and 3,300 moved to California.
As for the least popular destinations, no Alabamians moved to Delaware, North Dakota or Rhode Island in 2019.
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Do you have an idea for a data story about Alabama? Email Ramsey Archibald at rarchibald@al.com, and follow him on Twitter @RamseyArchibald. Read more Alabama data stories here.