100 Metro Areas with the Greatest Population Growth & Decline Through the Covid Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic created a massive shift in population across the U.S. People migrated from major cities like New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and the Bay Area to lower-cost cities such as Dallas, Phoenix, Atlanta, and Austin. There is a flight from the densely populated mega-cities as people seek a better quality of life.

Corporate relocations driving some growth

A substantial number of corporate relocations have come out of states such as California, Illinois, and New York. These massive site selection projects create an opportunity for employees to relocate to lower-cost geographies with lower taxes, less expensive housing, and more attractive quality of life among other traditional site selection factors. These projects include headquarters, manufacturing plants, distribution centers, call centers, and other similar operations. Some recent, high-profile, examples include:

McKesson from San Francisco to Dallas
Caterpiller from Chicago to Dallas
AECOM from Los Angeles to Dallas
Digital Realty from San Francisco to Austin, Texas
Oracle from Silicon Valley to Austin, Texas
Hewlett-Packard Enterprise from San Francisco to Houston
Norfolk Southern from Norfolk to Atlanta

Population growth data identifies the winners and losers

There are really two ways to analyze the data. The first option is to evaluate the net new population growth and the other is to analyze the percentage growth.