These are the states Kentuckians are moving to the most, Census data shows
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kentucky saw 92,582 residents move out to other states during 2023.
- Top destination states include Indiana, Ohio, Florida, and Tennessee.
- Despite outflows, Kentucky gained a net increase of residents overall in 2023.
With its natural beauty, relatively low cost of living and good mix of cities and small towns, it’s hard to fathom why anyone would want to leave Kentucky.
But if the latest available U.S. Census Bureau data is any indication, many residents are leaving the Bluegrass State, including for neighboring states and more populated ones, such as Florida, Texas, North Carolina, New York and Georgia.
To be clear, 2023 Census data shows Kentucky gained more residents than it lost to other states, drawing some 107,000 out-of-staters that year.
In total, Kentucky lost about 92,582 residents to other states in 2023 year-over-year, according to American Community Survey estimates from the Census Bureau. The margin of error for that estimate is plus or minus 8,228.
As of 2024, the federal agency estimates Kentucky’s population to be 4,588,372. That’s higher than the last major count, as figures from the 2020 Decennial Census put the commonwealth’s population at more than 4.505 million.
Where are Kentucky residents moving to?
As the list below shows, neighboring states are top moves for Kentucky residents, but bigger Sunbelt states are also major draws.
Some might conclude that Kentuckians are being lured away to other states by lower taxes, but Jason Bailey, executive director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, says that’s a mistake.
“There’s a lot of claims about taxes in particular being something that drives people between states, but the research is pretty clear that that is not a meaningful factor,” Bailey told the Herald-Leader in a July 16 interview.
For example, people often say Tennessee’s lack of a state income tax is a draw for moves from out-of-state, Bailey said. To the contrary, the latest Census data shows more Tennesseans are moving to Kentucky. An estimated 14,444 Tennesseans moved to Kentucky between 2022 and 2023. By contrast, Kentucky sent 9,175 of its residents to the Volunteer State during that time period.
“I think sometimes there’s a lot of focus on trying to get people to move to a state, but the reality is that not very many people move, and in fact, a declining share of people move, period,” Bailey told the Herald-Leader.
Main factors are either a specific job offer in another state or family, Bailey said. After those, housing costs can contribute to moves, along with weather or the environment, such as a retiree who wants to live near the beach, Bailey said.
Reducing Kentucky’s state income tax to 0% has been a years-long priority for Republican lawmakers in the state. Earlier this year, they successfully sought a relatively modest cut from 4% to 3.5%, which will go into effect Jan. 1, 2026. For their part, Kentucky Democrats have been somewhat wary about additional cuts because a third of the state’s General Fund revenue comes from the personal income tax.
State Rep. Jason Petrie, R-Elkton, is the chair of the Kentucky House’s Appropriations and Revenue Committee. He shared an emailed statement via Laura Leigh Goins, a spokesperson for the Office of Kentucky House Speaker David Osborne.
“We know for a fact that taxes are a major contributor to quality of life and a significant factor in migration for middle and high-earning households,” Petrie’s statement reads. “People want to live where they can keep more of their hard-earned money and enjoy the product of their labor. We’ve seen it in other states and we’re seeing it develop here as we continue our efforts to eliminate the individual income tax and modernize taxes. Those of us in communities that border the Tennessee state line have seen not only a migration of individuals, but major growth in investment and development.”
Where are Kentuckians moving to?
The top 10 states Kentucky residents moved to between 2022 and 2023 are as follows:
Indiana: 12,257
Ohio: 11,176
Florida: 9,814
Tennessee: 9,175
Texas: 5,410
North Carolina: 4,783
Illinois: 3,162
New York: 2,678
Georgia: 2,671
Missouri: 2,603
Note: For disclosure, we’ve compiled this list with the assistance of artificial intelligence and fact-checked the results, in accordance with McClatchy’s AI policy. We provided the AI with a spreadsheet of 2023 state-to-state migration flow data sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau and asked which states received the greatest number of moves from Kentucky. AI was not used to write this story.
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This story was originally published July 17, 2025 at 11:44 AM.