

Illinois is an interesting case study for Alabama to watch. Both states are at risk of losing a congressional seat following the 2020 Census, and while Alabama’s population is slowly growing, Illinois is losing people.

Since 2010, Illinois is the fastest shrinking state in the country in terms of total population, according to U.S. Census estimates. In fact, Illinois lost nearly an identical number of people as Alabama gained over that span. Illinois’s population dropped by 102,086. Alabama’s grew by 102,573.

Illinois may be leading the pack among Rust Belt states feeding Alabama, but people from several other Midwest and Northeast states are moving to Alabama. Most are just trading thousands of people with Alabama, not showing as big of a one-way flow.

More than 16,000 people moved here from Indiana since 2010, and Alabama sent back 12,000. Ohio and Michigan have each sent more than 20,000 people to Alabama since 2010. More than 14,000 moved to Alabama from Pennsylvania. But Alabama sent a lot of people to each those states in exchange.

Of course, Alabama swaps tens of thousands of residents each year with its Southern neighbors, especially Georgia. Nearly 200,000 people moved from Georgia to Alabama between 2010 and 2018, making Georgia the number one feeder state for Alabama. And Alabama sent back about 160,000, leading a net gain for the Yellowhammer State of more than 40,000 people.

Florida trails only Georgia in terms of raw numbers. Florida sent 130,000 people, Tennessee sent 80,000, followed, interestingly, by Texas. More than 61,000 Texans have moved to Alabama since 2010 - a higher number than nearby Mississippi. Yet Texas is the fastest-growing state in the country, according to Census data, and more Alabamians left for Texas and Mississippi over that same period.



Other regions, such as New England and the upper Midwest, see hardly any movement to or from Alabama.

You can see the totals of new arrivals in Alabama below:

