The actual number of Americans who have fled Democrat-led, crime-ridden cities since the pandemic

Major cities such as New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago suffered the largest exodus of people in the US since the start of the pandemic.

The introduction of home working due to the coronavirus, high taxes and the rapid rise in the cost of living have led to massive population changes across the country.

New York City saw the largest population decline with an incredible drop from 404,750 to 8,335,897 between 2020 and 2022, the U.S. Census Bureau revealed Thursday. Chicago saw 75,037 leave and now has a population of 2,665,039 and 73,598 citizens left Los Angeles where 3,822,238 people live.

The data showed that most people flee south and to smaller cities such as San Antonio in Texas, Phoenix, Arizona and Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Among the hundreds and thousands making the switch from major cities are billionaires Elon Musk, Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper and hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones.

Boston, Massachusetts suffered an exodus of 20,864 people as it saw its population shrink to 650,706 between 2020 and 2022, while 18,227 left Portland, Oregon, which now has a population of 635,067.

Detroit, Michigan saw 16,966 people leave the city and now has a population of 620,376 and 13,208 left Baltimore in Maryland, which has 569,931.

Memphis, Tennessee and Louisville, Kentucky are the only southern cities in the top 10 outgoing places with 10,112 and 7,997 people displaced, giving them 621,056 and 624,444 residents, respectively.

Four of the top 10 cities with an influx of residents between 2020 and 2022 are in Texas, with two in Arizona, two in Florida, and one in Idaho and Nevada.

A total of 33,684 people moved to San Antonio, Texas to increase the population to 1,472,909, 33,133 people moved to Fort Worth, Texas which now has a population of 956,709 and Phoenix, Arizona added 32,072 new residents to its population of 1,612,337 .

Other popular cities among Americans were in Florida, where Port St. Lucie gained 24,982 new residents, expanding the population to 231,790, and Cape Cora secured an additional 21,584 people to increase the population to 216,992.

According to the data, the state of Florida gained more than 655,200 people between 2020 and 2022.

While Georgetown in Texas experienced the largest population increase with 14.4 percent more people, equivalent to 18,214, who moved to the city that now has a population of 86,507.

Henderson in Nevada saw 12,376 residents move to the city, bringing the population to 331,415, and Buckeye in Arizona had an influx of 11,813 residents and the population now sits at 105,567.

And the population in Meridian in Idaho increased by 10,331 to 129,736 and McKinney, Texas, saw an increase of 10,033 and has a total population of 207,507.

The new data suggests that the trend of people wanting to leave the hustle and bustle of big cities – along with high taxes and living costs – continues.

It was caused by the shift from flexible working due to the coronavirus pandemic and the need for more living space.

While experts have suggested that Americans “vote with their feet” and say goodbye to eye-watering taxes, high costs of living and poor job prospects in Democrat-leaning areas for better deals in red states.

Mark Perry, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank, said the general population shift from Democrat-led states to mostly Republican-run boomtowns in the south and west of the country was.

“Americans are moving out of blue states that are more economically stagnant, fiscally unhealthy states with higher tax burdens and unfriendly business environments with higher energy and housing costs and fewer economic and employment opportunities,” Perry said.

They opt for ‘fiscally healthy red states that are economically more vibrant, dynamic and business-friendly, with lower tax and regulatory pressures, lower energy and housing costs and more economic and employment opportunities’.

The counties that lost the most residents are all in high-tax states, namely California, Illinois, and New York. They are also plagued by homelessness, drug abuse, and high rents and living costs.

California is the epicenter of America’s homeless crisis. About a third of the total US homeless population – 171,521 people – are in California, and Los Angeles is home to about 65,000 of them.

In contrast, the counties with the largest influx of people were in Arizona, Texas and Florida, where taxes are significantly lower. The destination areas tend to have more affordable housing and fewer problems such as crime and vagrancy.

According to the Tax Foundation, Florida, Texas, South Dakota, Tennessee and Nevada, a nonprofit policy group, are particularly attractive to new entrants because they don’t tax workers’ wages.

On the other hand, California, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York and Oregon lose people because of their double-digit income tax rates, which wage earners must pay on top of their federal and local taxes.

People are also moving to cover the rising cost of living – and the biggest expense for most people is rent.

According to RentCafe, an apartment listing service, the most affordable states in the US are Oklahoma, where the average renter spends $957 per month, Arkansas ($987 per month), and North Dakota ($1,011 per month).

America’s most expensive states to rent an apartment are Massachusetts ($2,632 per month), New York ($2,552 per month), and California ($2,506 per month) – states that are seeing population declines.

The ultra-rich have also decided to flee the big cities with billionaire Musk moving Tesla’s headquarters from California to Austin, Texas in 2021 to take advantage of the state’s lack of income tax.

Carolina Panthers owner Tepper, who has a net worth of $18.5 billion, and hedge fund manager Jones, who has a net worth of $7.5 billion, both left New York for Palm Beach in recent years for tax reasons.

And podcaster Joe Rogan left his longtime home of Los Angeles for Texas for “a little more freedom.”

Figures from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance show that the exodus of millionaires from the Empire State that began during the Covid-19 pandemic did not stop in 2021.

The number of those who made more than $25 million and who fled the state in 2021 is 1,453, just 520 less than the amount that left at the height of the lockdowns and intense social distancing.

Overall, eight percent of New York’s very wealthy will leave by 2021.