In the early days of the pandemic, many assumed that there would be mass domestic migration throughout the United States. But foot traffic data from the past two years tells a slightly different story. While some people relocated across state lines, most stayed in place – and many of those who did migrate over COVID chose areas with strong pre-pandemic population growth. Others moved, but remained near their region of origin.

This whitepaper examines some of the population shifts within the United States over the past few years. We looked at population changes on a state, county, and zip code level to understand if and how COVID impacted these trends and where migration patterns are headed.