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Migration to and from Cleveland County, North Carolina

Where Cleveland County 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
5,681
people moved in (5-yr)
Total outflow
4,352
people moved out (5-yr)
Net migration
+1,329
inflow minus outflow

Top 10 counties people moved IN from

OriginState / RegionPeople (5-yr)
Gaston CountyNorth Carolina1,076
Mecklenburg CountyNorth Carolina473
Spartanburg CountySouth Carolina406
Rutherford CountyNorth Carolina214
Erie CountyNew York183
Buffalo CityErie County, New York183
District of ColumbiaDistrict of Columbia169
Cherokee CountySouth Carolina160
Forsyth CountyNorth Carolina125
Seminole CountyFlorida124

Top 10 counties people moved OUT to

DestinationState / RegionPeople (5-yr)
Gaston CountyNorth Carolina811
Rutherford CountyNorth Carolina384
Mecklenburg CountyNorth Carolina185
Smith CountyTexas171
Guilford CountyNorth Carolina163
Alamance CountyNorth Carolina146
Duplin CountyNorth Carolina142
Kershaw CountySouth Carolina130
Jackson CountyNorth Carolina113
Forsyth CountyNorth Carolina83

Explore Cleveland County

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: 37045.