Credit: Internal Revenue Service Tax Stats & Forbes

At least once a week, I meet a Portlander from a different state. Granted, I fall within that category, but it’s always wild how many folks come from so far away to be a part of the Portland experience. How many, you ask? Lucky for us, Forbes has made a fun interactive map showing how many people migrate to and out of a specific county and where they originate from or end up.

Since 2006, Multnomah County’s inbound migration has outnumbered its outbounders โ€” with transplants arriving from all 50 states (mostly the Northeast and, strangely, a large portion of Arizona). Not a big surprise.

The more interesting info is where Portland natives flee to. Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia and North Carolina (and, again Arizona…what’s with this trade route?) appear to be the reigning magnets for Portland locals who escape. What does this mean? I expect you to provide the answers.

Check out the entire map, split up by year, here.

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  • Internal Revenue Service Tax Stats & Forbes

Alex Zielinski is a former News Editor for the Portland Mercury. She's here to tell stories about economic inequities, cops, civil rights, and weird city politics that you should probably be paying attention...

8 replies on “Multnomah’s Comings and Goings”

  3. I’ve found that a lot of Portlanders are into banjos. I think that they feel that the banjos in Portland are just rich white hipster versions and they want to experience true banjos. So they move to the South.

  4. My guess is that anywhere is sunnier than Portland, so there’s that. Also, people move back to their home state to live with their parents cuz they didn’t couldn’t stab their own face to death.

  7. I’m confused as to where you got the data saying that “Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia and North Carolina (and, again Arizona…what’s with this trade route?) appear to be the reigning magnets for Portland locals who escape”. Red lines/red counties mean that those places take more Portlanders than they send, but that doesn’t mean that they take the most– just that they happen to have more intake than output. Los Angeles county takes half as many Portlanders as it sends, but at 432, it takes many more than all of North Carolina.
    What I think is interesting is that more people move to the Oregon Coast from than to Portland– interesting statistic!

    Also, I agree re: the banjos. ๐Ÿ™‚

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