SEATTLE — This story was originally posted on MyNorthwest.com
Washington’s population surge is slowing, but the state continues to grow, according to the Washington State Office of Financial Management.
Washington gained more than 79,000 people between April 2024 and April 2025. But where are they coming from? And where are Washington residents leaving for?
U-Haul reveals mid-year migration trends
According to a study from U-Haul, people were mostly moving to Seattle from neighboring West Coast states. The 10 states people moved out of in favor of Seattle were Oregon, California, Texas, Arizona, Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Montana, and Florida.
U-Haul monitored one-way moves from January through July using their vehicles to determine which significant metro areas people are migrating to.
The top origin metro areas people were moving out of in favor of Seattle, according to U-Haul, were Portland, the Bay Area (San Francisco and San Jose metros), Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Denver.
For those relocating within the state, Spokane, Vancouver, Bellingham, Yakima, and Bremerton had the most people leave for Seattle last year.
“Many of the largest U.S. metros are in growth mode — a change from what was seen following the COVID-19 pandemic, when people took advantage of remote work and migrated to less-crowded markets, “U-Haul stated in its study. “More recently, big cities and their expanding suburbs are back to greeting a robust inflow of U-Haul equipment.”
Where are people moving out of Seattle going?
According to the same U-Haul study, people are leaving Seattle and the Evergreen State in favor of primarily nearby West Coast states. Six of the seven most common cities people left Seattle for were either in California or Oregon.
The cities acquiring the most Seattleites were Los Angeles, Phoenix, Portland, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose.
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