IRS tax-return data · 2022–2023

Rhode Island Migration: Who Moved In, Who Moved Out

Where people who left Rhode Island went, where its new arrivals came from, and the income that moved with them. Counted from the addresses on tax returns.

Source data last read October 10, 2026. The IRS publishes one edition a year.

Moved in

27,055

People, from other states, 2022–2023

Moved out

28,123

People, to other states, 2022–2023

Net

−1,068

People: moved in minus moved out

Net income

$38 million

Arrivals’ income minus leavers’, earned in 2022

Between the 2022 and 2023 filing seasons, 27,055 people appear on tax returns that moved into Rhode Island from another state, and 28,123 on returns that moved out. On balance Rhode Island lost 1,068 people to the rest of the country. The households that arrived reported $1.49 billion in income and the ones that left reported $1.45 billion.

Its largest net gain came from Massachusetts (+2,055), and its largest net loss was to Florida (−1,424).

What this counts, and what it does not

These are tax returns, not a head count. The IRS compares the address on a return filed in 2022 with the address on the same taxpayer’s return filed in 2023. “People” is the number of individuals listed on those returns.

Anyone who did not file in both years is missing: many students, retirees and low earners with no filing requirement, and anyone whose two returns could not be matched. The real number of people who moved is higher.

The address is a mailing address, which is not always where someone lives, and a move is dated by when the return was filed, not when the truck was loaded.

Income is the adjusted gross income on the second return (earned in 2022), attributed to the state the household moved to. It measures the income of the people who moved, not money a state “lost” or “gained”: much of it is wages from a job that may itself have changed.

Moves to and from other countries, military post offices and the US territories are not included in the totals here, and the IRS withholds any state-to-state flow of fewer than ten returns.

Where people who left Rhode Island went

Top 10 destinations for people leaving Rhode Island, 2022–2023. Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division.

Where new arrivals came from

Top 10 origins of people moving to Rhode Island, 2022–2023. Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division.

Rhode Island and every other state

People moving in each direction, and the difference. A positive net means Rhode Island gained from that state.

State	Moved in from	Moved out to	Net
Alabama	98	117	−19
Alaska	33	32	+1
Arizona	223	243	−20
Arkansas	60	54	+6
California	1,221	1,143	+78
Colorado	309	312	−3
Connecticut	2,135	2,739	−604
Delaware	59	96	−37
District of Columbia	110	164	−54
Florida	2,315	3,739	−1,424
Georgia	395	580	−185
Hawaii	136	129	+7
Idaho	31	32	−1
Illinois	349	276	+73
Indiana	134	153	−19
Iowa	53	91	−38
Kansas	62	66	−4
Kentucky	97	82	+15
Louisiana	107	87	+20
Maine	317	552	−235
Maryland	370	414	−44
Massachusetts	9,613	7,558	+2,055
Michigan	160	174	−14
Minnesota	151	106	+45
Mississippi	49	65	−16
Missouri	82	120	−38
Montana	21	33	−12
Nebraska	95	47	+48
Nevada	83	83	0
New Hampshire	524	660	−136
New Jersey	776	667	+109
New Mexico	58	45	+13
New York	2,340	1,719	+621
North Carolina	622	978	−356
North Dakota	11	26	−15
Ohio	274	341	−67
Oklahoma	63	67	−4
Oregon	123	99	+24
Pennsylvania	644	669	−25
South Carolina	272	632	−360
South Dakota	withheld	34	—
Tennessee	242	293	−51
Texas	737	984	−247
Utah	92	86	+6
Vermont	171	231	−60
Virginia	787	869	−82
Washington	345	308	+37
West Virginia	35	36	−1
Wisconsin	71	92	−21
Wyoming	withheld	withheld	—

Migration between Rhode Island and each other state, people on matched tax returns, 2022–2023.

“Withheld” means the IRS did not publish that flow because it involved fewer than ten returns. It is not zero, and it is small. For Rhode Island this applies to South Dakota, Wyoming.

Sources and methods

Every figure on this page comes from one of the datasets below and nowhere else. Nothing is estimated, interpolated or carried over from a previous edition. Where two sources measure something similar, they are reported separately rather than combined, because they are not measuring the same thing.

SOI Tax Stats: Migration Data 2022–2023, state-to-state outflow
Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
Covers
Returns filed in 2022 and 2023, 50 states and DC
Last read
October 10, 2026
The IRS matches each individual income tax return filed in 2022 to the same taxpayer’s return filed in 2023 and compares the addresses. People and income are taken from the second return, so the income is what those households earned in 2022. Amounts are published in thousands of dollars.
Exact file we read Publisher’s page
SOI Tax Stats: Migration Data 2022–2023, state-to-state inflow
Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
Covers
Returns filed in 2022 and 2023, 50 states and DC
Last read
October 10, 2026
The same flows listed by destination instead of origin. We read both files and publish a flow only when the two agree on it, which they do for every pair. The publisher’s page linked here is the IRS users guide, which defines every term used on this page.
Exact file we read Publisher’s page

Found something wrong? Our corrections log records every fix we have made, and we would rather hear about an error than have it stand.

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