Isles had
migration net
loss in ’95-’00People moving away exceeded
the total coming in by 76,133
WASHINGTON >> Hawaii led the nation in per capita loss of people due to changing residences during the last half of the 1990s, the U.S. Census Bureau says.
The bureau counted 76,133 more people moving out of Hawaii than moving in. The state gained 125,160 people during the five-year period, the majority (32,321) moving to the islands from California.
But 201,293 moved out of the islands. The Golden State also proved to be a popular destination for people leaving Hawaii. Of those who left, 44,192 were residing in California by 2000, the most of any destination state.
Hawaii's net loss from migration was 65 per 1,000 residents from 1995 to 2000. That compares to a net gain of 152 people for Nevada, the state with the highest net gain of people moving between states over the same period.
The bureau said more people moved out of California than moved in during the last half of the 1990s -- 755,000 more. It was the first time California has emerged as a state that more people want to leave.
Four reports being released today offered the most comprehensive look so far at U.S migration in 2000. The figures count only gains and losses between states. California and Hawaii both have relatively large foreign immigration.
Only New York, which lost 874,000 more residents to other states than it took in, had a bigger net decline than California. Illinois, New Jersey and Pennsylvania also lost more than they gained.
Hawaii ranked only behind those big states, plus Michigan and Ohio, in the net number of residents lost from migration.
The longtime retirement destination of Florida had the biggest net increase of movers, with 607,000 more people coming in than leaving. Warm-weather states with fast-growing economies in the late 1990s rounded out the top five: Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada.
The West had the highest percentage of any region of people who changed residences between 1995 and 2000. Fifty-one percent of people who in 2000 lived in the 13 Western states, including Alaska and Hawaii, had lived at another home in 1995. The percentage includes people whether they moved to a new state or just down the street.
The South, where 48 percent of people changed residences between 1995 and 2000, had the second-most transient population, followed by the Midwest at 44 percent and Northeast at 39 percent.
William Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution in Washington, said the California departures could be a sign that residents were fed up with high housing prices and sprawl.
www.census.gov
