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Migration to and from District of Columbia, District of Columbia

Where District of Columbia residents came from and where they went over the 5-year window 2016-2020. Census ACS County-to-County Migration Flows, 2020 5-yr (frozen vintage).

Total inflow
81,147
people moved in (5-yr)
Total outflow
71,241
people moved out (5-yr)
Net migration
+9,906
inflow minus outflow

Top 10 counties people moved IN from

OriginState / RegionPeople (5-yr)
Prince George's CountyMaryland5,604
Montgomery CountyMaryland4,380
Arlington CountyVirginia2,881
Asia2,745
Europe2,676
Fairfax CountyVirginia2,217
Middlesex CountyMassachusetts1,538
Cook CountyIllinois1,511
New York CountyNew York1,308
Alexandria CityVirginia1,308

Top 10 counties people moved OUT to

DestinationState / RegionPeople (5-yr)
Prince George's CountyMaryland10,730
Montgomery CountyMaryland5,618
Arlington CountyVirginia3,566
Fairfax CountyVirginia2,910
New York CountyNew York1,703
Manhattan BoroughNew York County, New York1,703
Los Angeles CountyCalifornia1,508
Alexandria CityVirginia1,452
Cook CountyIllinois1,098
Baltimore CityMaryland1,089

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Methodology

  • Counts represent the number of people aged 1+ who reported a different residence at the survey reference date than they did one year earlier, aggregated across the 5-year sample window 2016-2020.
  • Outbound (OUT) flows are reported less frequently than inbound (IN) because the survey captures the destination side of each move. Many county pairs have null OUT counts, which is normal.
  • "Total inflow" sums the published MOVEDIN counts across all origin counties, including foreign-region inflows (Africa, Asia, Central America, etc.). It is not the same as net population change.
  • Frozen vintage. The Census Bureau has not released a newer county-to-county migration flows file. The 2020 5-yr vintage (covering 2016-2020) is the latest available as of build date.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, County-to-County Migration Flows: 2016-2020. Vintage: 2020 5-yr. Generated: 2026-05-28. FIPS: 11001.