Folks are moving between York and Mecklenburg counties. This is who’s going where
People may drive from York County into Charlotte for work, but they largely move to homes that take them in the opposite direction.
New county-to-county migration data released Thursday from the U.S. Census Bureau shows where people go, and come from, when they choose a place to live. The data represents an average for a five-year period. It compares people who report a move within the past year of being surveyed, for each county in the country.
Charlotte and Mecklenburg County leads the count in people migrating to York County, and being the destination for people leaving York County.
The net increase belongs to York County, which got 2,165 more people from Mecklenburg County than it sent there.
Yet Charlotte-Mecklenburg isn’t the only destination.
Coming to York County
The new data shows almost 263,000 York County residents at age 1 year or older.
Each year almost 22,000 people move into York County. About 12,000 people move out of York County.
An estimated 13,442 people each year, or 62% of all people moving in, come from a different state.
Most of those from out-of-state aren’t moving far. York County gets an average of 4,285 new residents each year from Mecklenburg County. That figure is more than twice what York County gets from any other county in the country.
York County also gets more than 500 residents each year from neighboring Gaston County in North Carolina. Jasper County in Missouri sends almost 370 residents. Union County in North Carolina contributes 290 new people each year. Lee County in Georgia, Nassau County in New York, Parker County in Texas and Franklin County in Ohio each provide 200 or more residents.
York County gets 7,316 new residents each year from within South Carolina. They come from predictable places.
Lancaster County sends nearly three times what any other county does, almost 1,700 new people per year. York County has a net increase of more than 1,100 people from Lancaster County each year.
Spartanburg and Richland counties send almost 700 people each. Chester County sends almost 500 residents.
York County has a little more than 1,000 people each year who move in from outside the country.
Leaving York County
People who leave York County tend to not move far.
Mecklenburg receives more than 2,100 residents each year, more than triple the next closest county. Richland, Lancaster, Gaston (North Carolina) and Greenville are destinations for 270-630 residents each year.
Outside the Carolinas, the most people — 270 a year — move from York County to Cook County in Illinois. King County in Washington state gets 170 movers each year. Other counties to get 100 or more people from York County each year are Martin (Florida), Horry and Lexington in state, Bristol (Massachusetts) and Miami-Dade (Florida).
Lancaster County
With its population of almost 92,000 residents one year or older, Lancaster County has almost 6,500 new people moving in each year. The big increase comes from people who come from another state.
Almost 5,600 people leave Lancaster County each year.
About twice as many people move from Lancaster County to other parts of South Carolina (3,385) as come to the county from elsewhere in the state (1,797). More than 4,500 people move to Lancaster County from another state, compared to almost 2,200 people who leave the county headed to another state.
Less than 170 people each year come from abroad.
Net migration shows lots of local moves.
Lancaster County receives more than 1,000 people each year — three times what it gets from anywhere else — from Mecklenburg County. Lancaster County loses more than 1,100 people each year to York County.
In raw numbers the most people come from Mecklenburg (almost 1,400) and Union (640) counties in North Carolina, and York County (almost 570). King William (Virginia) and Dyer (Tennessee) counties each send more than 200 residents per year. More than 100 each come from Hartford (Connecticut), Davidson (Tennessee) and Forsyth (North Carolina) counties.
Almost 1,700 people leave Lancaster County, headed to York County each year. Union (North Carolina), Chesterfield, Mecklenburg and Richland are next, each getting more than 240 people from Lancaster County. Chester County follows at almost 160.
People who move out of the Carolinas go most often to Erie (Pennsylvania), Fairfield (Connecticut), Cook (Illinois) and Dallas (Texas) counties.
Chester County
Chester County has fewer people than its neighbor counties, and the population drops more each year.
The county has a population of almost 32,000 people 1 year and older. The county also has more than twice as many people leaving the county as coming into it.
Each year Chester County gets 530 new residents from another county in South Carolina, another 151 from a different state and 17 from abroad. However, more than 1,000 people leave the county headed somewhere else in the state, and more than 500 go to a different state.
About half the movers go to York County (almost 500), followed by Lancaster County (about 200). Mahoning County in Ohio also gets more than 100 people per year. The comes Lexington and St. Johns (Florida) counties. Mecklenburg County gets 54 people from Chester County.
York County sends the most people to Chester County at more than 200 a year. Lancaster County is next with almost 160. Wayne (Michigan), Duval (Florida), Woodford (Kentucky) and San Francisco (California) counties each send more than 10 new residents per year.
Mecklenburg County
Mecklenburg County loses more residents to several neighboring counties than it gains from them.
Net migration data shows most of the people move to York County at more than 2,100 per year. That number is followed by Union (1,700), Cabarrus (1,600) and Gaston (1,300) counties in North Carolina. Lancaster County is next at more than 1,000 net moves. Chester County is on the opposite end, sending more than 50 people per year to Mecklenburg County.
This story was originally published September 3, 2021 at 11:36 AM with the headline "Folks are moving between York and Mecklenburg counties. This is who’s going where."
