February 2026 · Migration · 3 min read · by Kinan Sawar, MD — REALTOR® at Shorewest, REALTORS®
Migration is the single best leading indicator of housing demand. The IRS data shows exactly who is leaving where — and for where.
Prices tell you what already happened. Migration tells you what’s coming. People move first; the housing market reprices after.
The maps carry county-to-county migration straight from IRS tax-return data — the most granular, household-level migration signal that exists — alongside Census net-migration rates.
Los Angeles County is the textbook case: it loses tens of thousands more households a year than it gains. Follow the outflows and the destinations are unsurprising — Orange County and the Inland Empire next door, then Las Vegas, Phoenix, and the cheaper, faster-growing metros of the interior West.
On the receiving end, a band of metros across Texas, Florida, the Carolinas, and the Mountain West post the strongest net-migration rates in the country. That inbound demand is precisely what has stretched their valuations — the two maps tell one story.
Before you weigh a market, check the direction of travel. A county gaining households on a tight housing supply is a very different bet than one quietly losing them. Switch the map to “Net Migration Rate,” then click any county to see exactly where its residents are coming from and going to.
Kinan Sawar, MD — REALTOR® at Shorewest, REALTORS®, serving Milwaukee and Southeast Wisconsin (Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington, Racine, Kenosha, and Walworth counties). Email: [email protected] · Phone: (618) 713-2964.
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Home values and rents are Zillow ZHVI/ZORI estimates for the named area, as of 2026-07-03; incomes and population are U.S. Census (SAIPE, Population Estimates); migration is IRS Statistics of Income. Area-level statistical estimates for information only — not an appraisal, and not financial, legal, or tax advice.