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Most new Idaho residents are moving from these states, recent Census Bureau data reveals

A snow-covered Canfield Mountain hovers over the Coeur d’Alene area in February. (Kathy Plonka/The Spokesman-Review)
By Daniel Schrager Idaho Statesman

In mid-October, the U.S. Census Bureau released its state-to-state migration estimates for 2023. The data, which is based on the results of the annual American Community Survey, breaks down the total number of people who moved to and from each state last year.

Here’s what it had to say about Idaho.

CA and WA residents moving to ID at highest rate

The Census Bureau estimates that 81,708 people moved to Idaho from a different state last year, with the highest totals coming from California, Washington and Oregon.

Idaho drew approximately 17,338 Californians in 2023, according to the Census Bureau, and 14,655 Washingtonians. However, the estimates, which both carry a margin of error above 3,000, are too close to show definitively that more people moved to Idaho from California than from Washington.

The state with the next most residents that left for Idaho in 2023 was Oregon, with 7,458, and Utah rounded out the top five at 5,537. Around 5,526 people moved to Idaho from Texas that year, the most of any state not located in the western part of the country. Arizona rounded out the top five, with just over 4,000 former residents moving to Idaho, according to the estimates.

An additional 9,300 people moved to Idaho from a different country and just over 100 moved to the state from a U.S. territory.

The Census Bureau estimated that no one from Delaware, Washington, D.C., Louisiana, New Hampshire and Vermont moved to Idaho in 2023, although the estimates each had a margin of error of nearly 200.

Which states are Idaho residents moving to?

Meanwhile, around 65,000 people left Idaho for a different state in 2023, according to the Census Bureau. An estimated 7,513 Idahoans left for Washington, the highest of any state, although a few others were close behind. Just under 6,800 moved one state south to Utah, while roughly 5,764 moved to Texas. Arizona had the fifth-most new residents from Idaho at around 5,132.

The estimates didn’t pick up any Idaho residents who moved to Connecticut, Washington, D.C., or Rhode Island, although the margin of error for each of those estimates was between 200 and 250. An estimated seven Idahoans moved to West Virginia that year, with a margin of error of 16.