Florida’s Fading Appeal Is a Blessing for Alabama

It should be no surprise that a stagnant US housing market has slowed the flow of people moving to Florida and Texas. If home transactions are weak, it stands to reason migration will be too. What was surprising, and instructive, in recently released census data was the growing appeal of a handful of midsized states in the southeast.

Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina all saw higher migration in the two years through June 2025 than in the two years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, based on the latest update to population estimates from the Census Bureau. Florida and Texas experienced sharp declines, suggesting their problems are at least partly idiosyncratic.