IRS releases 2022-23 state and county migration data as U.S. population shifts continue

The Internal Revenue Service released a new set of state and county migration data on August 5, 2026, giving researchers and the public a federal source for examining where Americans moved during calendar years 2022-23.

The data concern individual migration between states and counties and were released through the IRS Statistics of Income program. Because the dataset covers the United States nationwide, it can be used to study changes in population distribution, household relocation and regional demographic inequality.

What the release measures

The IRS listed “Individuals, State and County Migration” data for calendar years 2022-23 among its new releases. The release is not a real-time count of moves taking place in 2026. Instead, it covers the two calendar years identified by the agency: 2022 and 2023.

At its broadest, the dataset provides a way to compare movement across the country’s states and counties. That can help show which areas are gaining or losing residents through domestic migration and how household relocation is distributed geographically.

The release information approved for this report does not include the detailed migration counts, nor does it identify the biggest population gainers or losers. Those figures cannot be supplied here without examining the underlying tables and methodology.

Why the data matter now

The new migration release arrives as the Census Bureau reports that overall U.S. population growth slowed. The bureau estimated that the nation’s population increased by 1.8 million people, or 0.5%, between July 1, 2024, and July 1, 2025. Census attributed that slowdown to a historic decline in net international migration.

That national estimate and the IRS migration data measure different parts of population change. The Census figure describes the overall change in the U.S. population over a specified period, while the IRS release focuses on individual movement between states and counties during 2022-23. Taken together, they provide context for examining how population change is distributed across the country.

For communities and policymakers, information about domestic movement can support analysis of changing regional populations and household relocation. It may also help frame questions about demographic inequality, although the release information alone does not establish why people moved or what effects migration had in particular places.

Important limits

Migration data based on tax filings may not capture every household or every move. That means the figures should not automatically be treated as a complete account of all domestic relocation in the United States.

The data also should not be used to infer causes of migration without reviewing the underlying tables and methodology. The approved source material does not establish whether people moved because of housing costs, employment, family circumstances, taxes, climate or any other factor.

The IRS release is therefore best understood as a new federal measurement resource, not a complete explanation of population shifts. It gives analysts a defined 2022-23 window for studying movement between states and counties while leaving detailed interpretation to the tables and documentation.

What comes next

The approved release information does not identify a further deadline, policy action or scheduled follow-up from the IRS. The next step for a more detailed account of migration patterns would be examination of the underlying data tables and methodology, including the counts for individual states and counties and the coverage limits of tax-filing records.

For now, the August 5 release establishes the latest covered period identified by the IRS: calendar years 2022-23. It adds a national source for tracking domestic movement at the state and county level, while the available information cautions against treating it as a real-time 2026 measure or as proof of the reasons Americans relocated.