The study also found New York was one of the top states people wanted to move from. In the Northeast, snowy weather and high costs of living are among the factors prompting people to relocate, MarketWatch reported in January.

But what about California?

The allure of being "close to the mountains and the ocean without having to pay the high price tag" helped attract Cheyenne Levinson to the Triangle, she wrote on the Raleigh Moms blog. The area public school system and nearby universities were also a plus, she says.

Also of note, the states of California, Florida and New York are among the five most-populous in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

In all, "North Carolina's population has grown by 848,000 new residents or 8.9%, since the 2010 Census, rising to 10.4 million residents as of 2018," according to the Carolina Demography blog published Thursday.

Though some of the surge came from birth rates, more people are coming here than are leaving, its analysis says.

Within the United States, the fewest newcomers are from "South Dakota, Rhode Island, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and New Hampshire," Carolina Demography says.