19% of of House Hunters Are Looking to Relocate–And They’re Headed to the Sun Belt

• Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. house hunters looked to relocate to a different metro area in the first quarter, up slightly from a year earlier. 
• Florida, Las Vegas and Phoenix are the most popular destinations, with many movers chasing affordability and sunshine. 
• New York, Seattle, Los Angeles and other expensive metros top the list of places people are leaving; when people leave those places, they typically go to sunny Sun Belt locales. 

Roughly one in five (19.1%) U.S. house hunters looked to move from one part of the country to another in the first quarter. That’s up slightly from 18.9% a year earlier and the highest share in records dating back to 2021.

This is from a Redfin analysis of Redfin.com homebuyers and renters searching outside their home metro area. A Redfin.com user counts as a migrant if they viewed at least 20 for-sale homes in an origin-destination pair in the relevant month. Please see the end of this report for more on methodology. 

A record portion of Americans are looking to relocate partly because of affordability pressures. Housing costs are near record highs because mortgage rates and sale prices remain stubbornly high, and inflation is pushing up the cost of living for other everyday expenses. That’s motivating people to move from expensive areas to more affordable areas. Orlando, FL, for instance, is the most popular destination for relocating house hunters. The typical Orlando home costs just over $400,000, roughly half the cost of the typical home in New York, the most common origin for people moving there. 

Additionally, remote work remains much more common than it was before the pandemic, allowing more Americans to relocate for affordability or lifestyle reasons without changing jobs. 

Another factor is boomerang migration. Some Americans are moving away from places they moved to during the pandemic. For instance, about 1,700 more people left Charlotte, NC than moved in during the first quarter, compared to a net inflow of about 3,200 five years earlier. Austin, TX lost about 300 more residents than it gained during the first quarter, compared to a net inflow of 14,000 five years earlier. 

Note that while the share of house hunters looking to relocate has risen to a record high, that doesn’t mean the number of relocators is at a record high. Overall homebuying activity is sluggish, so the total number of migrants is likely lower than it was back in 2021 or 2022, when a smaller share of a larger pool of buyers was looking to relocate. 

Florida Dominates List of Most Popular Destinations

Orlando, FL was the most popular destination for relocating house hunters in the first quarter. It’s followed by three other Florida metros: North Port, Miami and Cape Coral. Tampa came in sixth, after Las Vegas. Popularity is determined by net inflow, a measure of how many more Redfin.com users looked to move into an area than leave. 

Half of the most popular destinations are in Florida, and all are relatively affordable, especially compared to the places people are most commonly leaving. All of the most popular destinations are in the Sun Belt, and all have warm, sunny weather. 

Florida Redfin agents say that the Sunshine State has always attracted a lot of people from the north, especially retirees, who move in for the warm weather and beachy lifestyle. More recently, they say there has been an uptick in people moving to Florida for job opportunities. The state’s ‘Space Coast’, for example, is home to outposts of companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin that attract a lot of engineers and other tech workers from places like Seattle and California.

Note that while Florida is popular with relocators, movement into the Sunshine State has slowed over the last several years. Miami had a net inflow of 6,576 in the first quarter, down from over 28,000 in 2022. In North Port, about 7,000 more people moved in than out in the first quarter, down from about 10,000 in 2022. A recent Redfin analysis shows that Americans are increasingly leaving flood-prone parts of the country, including several coastal Florida counties. 

While remote work is still more common than prior to the pandemic, many employees have been called back to the office, putting a damper on movement from places like New York to Florida. 

Relocators Are Leaving Expensive Big Cities 

U.S. house hunters are leaving New York, Seattle and Los Angeles more than any other major metro. That’s based on net outflow, a measure of how many more Redfin.com users are looking to leave a metro than move in.

Next come three other major job centers: The Bay Area, Washington, D.C. and Chicago. Expensive coastal cities and employment hubs usually top the list of places people leave as they chase affordability in other parts of the country. House hunters leaving Seattle, for instance, often seek out Phoenix, where buying a home costs about half the price. 

House hunters are most commonly leaving big-city job centers, but migration out of those places has slowed over the last five years. Take New York as an example: Roughly 28,000 more people looked to move out than in during the first quarter, down from 46,000 in 2022. The Bay Area had a net outflow of around 23,000, down from 74,000 in 2022. 

Florida Is Top State For Relocating House Hunters

At the state level, Florida was the most popular destination for relocating house hunters in the fourth quarter. Even though migration into several Florida metros is slowing, the Sunshine state still attracts more Redfin.com home searchers than Arizona, South Carolina and Tennessee–the next-most popular destinations–combined. 

Next come two other Sun Belt states: Nevada and Texas. 

People are leaving California more than any other state. The Golden State’s net outflow is twice as big as that of New York, the No. 2 state on the list. 

Next come three northern job centers: Illinois, Washington and Massachusetts. 

Methodology 

This is from a Redfin analysis of Redfin.com users–both homebuyers and renters–searching outside their home metro area. 

Our migration analysis is based on Redfin.com users searching for homes across more than 100 metro areas in the U.S. For this analysis, a metro area is defined at the Combined Statistical Area (CSA) level, which includes multiple Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). The analysis is from January 2021 to March 2026.

We identify potential migrants as users who search for homes outside their current metro area. A Redfin.com user must view at least 20 for-sale or for-rent homes in a destination metro during a one-month period to be counted as looking to relocate there.

If a user views homes in multiple metros, we proportionally allocate their migration based on search activity. For example, if a Seattle-based user views 40 homes—20 in Phoenix and 20 in San Diego—they count as half a migrant to Phoenix and half to San Diego. This approach allows us to measure both the volume and direction of migration interest across the country.

Note that this data can include people searching for vacation homes and/or investment properties outside their home metro area.