A “Welcome to Texas” sign stands on the side of the road, May 9, 2017 near Dalhart. A new analysis shows two Central Texas cities attracted some of the highest rates of new residents in 2025.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Can you guess which Lone Star cities are seeing the biggest influxes of new residents?
It’s no secret Texas towns continue to attract movers, both from within and outside the state. But a new report by migration data company moveBuddha may surprise you. Numbers from 2025 indicate that America’s “it” cities may need to give up their crowns.
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For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, no state had double the number of in-moves as out-moves. In fact, fewer Americans moved in general last year. Rather than popular destinations, those who did move chose a wider variety of areas.
Which Texas cities are attracting the interest of movers, and how do they fit into national trends? Here’s what moveBuddha found.
Read more: Austin is No. 1 for new movers in 2025 — and it’s not just Californians moving in
2 Central Texas cities among new ‘micro-destinations’ in 2025
In moveBuddha’s analysis, there was a 10% popularity increase for “micro-destinations” — small cities and towns that are desirable to many movers despite being in an average-ranked state. Georgetown and Austin landed among the top 16 in 2025, increasing by 36% and 14% respectively.
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Despite Florida having a lower in-to-out ratio than Texas, individual cities in the Sunshine State dominated the list. Here are the top 21 micro-destinations, per last year’s migration data:
RankCityIn-to-out ratio, 2025Ratio change, 2024-20251Ocala, Fla.3.0974.2%2Port St. Lucie, Fla.1.6772.4%3Palm Coast, Fla.2.1471.2%4Roseville, Calif.1.3856.0%5Cumming, Ga.1.5342.5%6Cape Coral, Fla.1.3042.4%7Kissimmee, Fla.1.7638.9%8Georgetown1.6636.0%9Delray Beach, Fla.1.1930.8%10Boca Raton, Fla.1.1627.5%11Springfield, Mo.1.2922.5%12Jacksonville, Fla.1.3522.2%13Alpharetta, Ga.1.2821.4%14Salem, Ore.1.2618.8%15Cambridge, Mass.1.0518.4%16Austin1.1614.0%17Fort Collins, Colo.1.4914.0%18Queen Creek, Ariz.1.21112.2%19Beaverton, Ore.1.10811.5%20Bellevue, Wash.1.05410.2%21Oklahoma City1.00710.1%
Georgetown among most desirable, rising cities in 2025
A new plaza in Georgetown by the library has a covered stage, shaded pavilion with fans and event lawn for people to gather. The space opened in December of 2025.
Claire Osborn/American-Statesman
Moving across states can require enormous effort, resources and planning, which is unavailable to some. For this reason moveBuddha also gathered data on search trends to reveal the most desired destinations, using data from its own moving cost estimator tool.
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The tool determined Georgetown ranked No. 14, with 166 searches for moving into the Texas city for every 100 searches for moving out of it. The Central Texas city also ranked No. 10 among the top-rising cities. Its in-to-out ratios jumped 36% from 2024 to 2025, launching its rank 37 positions. Georgetown — along with Roseville, Calif., Cumming, Ga. and Kissimmee, Fla. — proved desirable for proximity to booming cities within urban price tags.
“[These cities] give movers access to airports and hybrid work arrangements even as they allow breathing room from the hustle and bustle of America’s economic centers,” moveBuddha’s analysis explained. “And that’s been a winning formula for retirees — but also many families.”
Shift in moving preferences by state, 2020-2025
MAP: State move-in ratios, 2020-2025
While Texas has seen a slight dip in its move-in-to-out ratio since a spike in 2021, it has consistently welcomed more residents than it’s lost each year. The Lone Star State’s ratios over the last six years are as follows:
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2020: 1.6
2021: 1.68
2022: 1.3
2023: 1.14
2024: 1.19
2025: 1.18
10 states with highest ratio of moves in-to-out, 2025
South Carolina led moveBuddha’s rankings for the third consecutive year.
South Carolina: 199 in to 100 out
Idaho: 169 in to 100 out
North Carolina: 166 in to 100 out
Alaska: 162 in to 100 out
Maine: 157 in to 100 out
Tennessee: 149 in to 100 out
Delaware: 138 in to 100 out
South Dakota: 136 in to 100 out
Arkansas: 135 in to 100 out
Alabama: 133 in to 100 out
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Last year, Alaska saw the largest ratio increase among states. It jumped from its No. 13 ranking with a 1.30 ratio in 2024 to No. 4 with a 1.62 ratio in 2025. According to moveBuddha, this is consistent with trends like widespread remote work opportunities and “a growing emphasis on lifestyle over big-city career ladders.”
States with lowest ratio of moves in-to-out, 2025
California once again had the lowest ratio among states, despite improving slightly from its ratio of 0.48 in 2024.
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California: 62 in to 100 out
New Jersey: 64 in to 100 out
Connecticut: 67 in to 100 out
New York: 71 in to 100 out
Maryland: 74 in to 100 out
District of Columbia: 74 in to 100 out
Nebraska: 75 in to 100 out
Rhode Island: 79 in to 100 out
Massachusetts: 80 in to 100 out
Virginia: 82 in to 100 out
Washington, D.C. had the biggest drop in rankings last year, dropping 27.36% from a 1.01 ratio to 0.74. The nation’s capital is among a group of “dense, expensive cities” seeing signicant losses in residents. Analysts at moveBuddha attributed the decrease to its loss of around 200,000 jobs in 2025, amid which D.C.’s finances “took a nosedive.”