DENVER (KDVR) — More of Colorado’s population was living in new homes in 2021 than any other U.S. state.
Colorado’s status as a destination state developed in the 2010s with a record number of people moving into the state in 2015. During the COVID pandemic, its desirability increased as a destination for workers looking for more square footage and more outdoor opportunities. A statewide shuffle of downsizing, upsizing, out-migration and in-migration took hold as rent and homeownership prices went from high to prohibitive.
More of Colorado’s people were shuffled around in 2021 than anywhere else, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
The survey said 16.3% of Colorado residents over 1 year old were living in a different house in the U.S. or Puerto Rico the previous year – roughly one in every six people. Only Washington, D.C. had a higher share of movers, with 19.2%.
The western U.S. was a domestic migration hub during the pandemic, and the ACS data demonstrates that. The states with the highest shares of people who lived in a different house within the last year were North Dakota, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Washington, Kansas, Idaho, Arizona, Nevada and Oregon.
In the south and Mid-Atlantic states, people were more likely to have stayed put. New York, New Jersey, Delaware, West Virginia and Mississippi ranked the lowest for their share of movers in 2021.