Arizona has grown leaps and abound these past five years. Most of the people have come from California by a large margin. Roughly 64,000 Californians moved to Arizona annually during 2016-2020.
What states send the most migrants to Arizona? We can get a good idea from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Their five-year estimates for the 2016-2020 period show that Arizona drew migrants from every state in the nation (Exhibit 2). It’s also clear that California sent by far the most migrants of any state.
Exhibit 4 shows the top 10 states that contributed domestic migrants to Arizona. During the period, California contributed by far the most migrants to the state, Phoenix, and Tucson. California alone accounted for 23.9% of domestic migrants to the state, 23.3% for Phoenix, and 20.3% for Tucson.
By George Hammond, EBRC Director and Research Professor