More people left Connecticut than moved into the state last year, according to a study by Atlas Van Lines.
There were 1,236 outbound moves from Connecticut in 2015, compared with 968 inbound moves, according to the Atlas Van Lines Migration Patterns Study. The company has been doing the study since 1993.
The Indiana-based moving company examined data from more than 77,000 interstate and cross-border “household goods relocations” nationwide between Jan. 1 and Dec. 15, 2015.
Connecticut has seen move-outs outnumber move-ins since at least 2006, when the study began. In a few specific years — 2006, 2007 and 2010 — the study considered Connecticut “balanced,” with moves in and out being roughly the same. For the other years in the past decade, including the past five consecutive ones, it has been dubbed and “outbound” state.
In 2014, there were 1,223 moves out of the state and 849 in; in 2013 there were 1,230 moves out and 825 in; in 2012 there were 1,123 moves out and 834 in; and in 2011 there were 1,216 moves out and 946 into Connecticut.
In the Northeast, Vermont, New York, and New Jersey also were outbound states. Rhode Island was the only inbound state, where moves in outpaced moves out, in the region, while Massachusetts and New Hampshire were “balanced.”
Nationwide, the study found 18 states were outbound, 12 were inbound, and 20 states and Washington, D.C. were balanced.
The study found the highest percentage of outbound moves were from Hawaii, where 62 percent of moves were out of state; followed by New York, where just under 62 percent of moves were out of the state. Oregon had the highest percentage of inbound moves, with 64 percent, followed by Idaho, the Atlas study found.
Using separate data, U.S. Census Bureau figures released this month show that a growing number of Americans are migrating south and west.
Of the 10 fastest-growing states, population-wise, between July 1, 2014, and July 1, 2015, nine are in the southern or western part of the country — places like Colorado, Nevada, Florida, and Texas. The only one of the top 10 not located in the south or west was North Dakota, which ranked as the fast-growing state.
When it comes to the states with the largest numeric increases in population, the top five were Texas, Florida, California, Georgia, and Washington, the Census data show.
Census data released a year ago, in January 2015, found that between July 2013 and July 2014 Connecticut experienced its first population decrease since 2008. During the yearlong span, the state’s population declined by 2,664 people to 3,596,677, according to the Census.
