Moves between two counties
How many households moved from one county to another, how many came back the other way, and how that changed over four filing years. Pick any two of 2,748 counties.
In 2022–23, 19,802 returns moved from Los Angeles County, CA to Orange County, CA and 16,006 moved the other way, a net 3,796 toward Orange County, CA. The two county centers are 45 miles apart.
| Direction | Returns | People | Average income | Share of departures | Rank among destinations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles County, CA to Orange County, CA | 19,802 | 31,420 | $102,997 | 12.2% | 1 of 496 |
| Orange County, CA to Los Angeles County, CA | 16,006 | 23,952 | $82,788 | 22.9% | 1 of 292 |
| Filing pair | To Orange County, CA | To Los Angeles County, CA | Net to Orange County |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019–20 | 22,978 | 16,339 | +6,639 |
| 2020–21 | 24,198 | 16,193 | +8,005 |
| 2021–22 | 21,267 | 16,322 | +4,945 |
| 2022–23 | 19,802 | 16,006 | +3,796 |
Pairs to try
| Counties | First to second | Second to first | Miles |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York County, NY and Los Angeles County, CA | 2,264 | 2,537 | 2,444 |
| New York County, NY and Suffolk County, NY | 1,451 | 1,743 | 68 |
| District of Columbia and Prince George’s County, MD | 4,089 | 3,479 | 10 |
| Multnomah County, OR and Clark County, WA | 2,886 | 1,939 | 16 |
| Harris County, TX and Fort Bend County, TX | 14,433 | 11,572 | 32 |
| Honolulu County, HI and San Diego County, CA | 879 | 789 | 2,648 |
How to use it
Type part of a county name in each box, pick it from the list and press Compare. The address bar keeps both choices, so the result can be shared or bookmarked. To see all of the partners of one county instead, use the county tracer.
What the numbers mean
Returns are individual income tax returns the IRS matched across two filing seasons; one return is roughly one household. People counts everyone listed on those returns. Average income is the adjusted gross income of the flow divided by its returns, from the second-year return. Share of departures divides the flow by every return that left the first county of that row, abroad included. Rank orders the county’s listed destinations by returns. The IRS lists a flow only at 20 returns or more, so “under 20” means anywhere from zero to 19 in the latest year and “not listed” means no count is published for that year; Connecticut’s planning regions have no count before 2022–23. Miles are straight-line distances between county centers. For 2022–23 the IRS changed how it matches returns, which it says adds about 5%, so small rises in that year can come from the method. More in How to read the data.
Source: IRS Statistics of Income, SOI Tax Stats – Migration Data (county-to-county files, 2019–20 to 2022–23; latest release used: 2022–23), retrieved October 28, 2026. County locations: US Census Bureau, 2023 Gazetteer Files. Both are US government works in the public domain; calculations by countymoves, explained in How to read the data.