2025’s Least Popular City in Every State: Which Cities Are People Fleeing Right Now?

Which cities have way more people who want to move out than in? 

We wanted to know. Using data from the moveBuddha Moving Calculator from January 2024 to October 2025, we found the top exit city in every state where searches for moves out outpace those in.

We’ve already told you where they are going, but now we uncover who is fueling moves to those hotspots. 

Here’s where movers are definitely not going in every state (see full list here).

Big Takeaways

• West Des Moines, IA, is the least popular U.S. city in any state with an in-to-out ratio of just .18 (18 moves inbound for every 100 out). 
• 8 of the top ten most-exited cities are pricier satellite cities. Movers are trading former flagship suburbs (older, close-to-the-hub, and higher-cost) for newer, better-value homes in the same job market.
• Price is associated with exits. Case in point: #2 San Marcos, CA ($938K) and #10 Issaquah, WA ($1.132K). Of the top 10 exit cities in each state, 6 are among the most expensive.
• Averaging 60 inbound searches for every 100 outbound, the Mid-Atlantic’s unpopular cities like #8 Ellicott City, MD, and #4 Yonkers, NY are more likely to be left than cities in the West and Northeast.

Which Cities are Americans Fleeing Most Today?

In the 1980s, it was a “Rust Belt.” By the 1990’s, many Americans left northern climes for Sunbelt darlings. By the 2000s and 2010s, cities without hot new tech jobs lost residents.

Today, the map is getting scrambled again.

With just 18 incomers for every 100 residents looking to leave, and an average home value of around $319,000, West Des Moines, IA, is America’s biggest exit city. Why?

West Des Moines was once the city’s flagship suburb. In 2004, it welcomed Iowa’s largest mall, making it the epicenter of Des Moines’ suburban universe, boasting the only Pottery Barn store for 200 miles. And its leafy green streets also held other family-pleasing amenities: outdoor summer movie nights with free popcorn at Jamie Hurd amphitheater, a lakeside park with rentable kayaks, and one of the country’s most storied gymnastics programs.

Yet recently, this default destination has fallen victim to nearby competitors — Waukee, Ankeny, Grimes, Johnston, and Urbandale all offer newer construction with a similar commute. Today, Waukee is the state’s top move-to suburb, pulling in more new building permits than West Des Moines.

And at $319K, West Des Moines is pricey by Des Moines standards, so new Iowans aren’t seeing an affordability edge in the mature suburb, where the average home dates from 1993 (in Ankeny, homes average 16 years younger). 

What Does West Des Moines Have in Common with Other Top Exit Cities?

Newer and often cheaper suburban competitors are chipping at the popularity of many of the top exit cities on our list.

In San Marcos, CA, housing stock math plays out along the I-5 corridor, with San Diego County residents hopping northward for newer, less expensive homes. In Riverside County alternatives like Murrieta, they’ll snag housing that’s 6 years younger for around $684K compared to San Marcos’ $935K.

And in Port Richey, FL, the average home dates from 1982, whereas other North Tampa options like Wesley Chapel (one of the country’s top move-to suburbs) offer homes dating from 2005, on average. Meanwhile, Port Richey’s coastal lifestyle is dulled by insurance panic in a city where 97.7% of homes carry flood risk, and premiums are up 40% since 2022. Newcomers may be swapping their waterfront worry for inland recreational alternatives, like Wesley Chapel’s lagoon water park and 5-rink ice arena.

The story of these unpopular cities is similar to other top exit cities; Issaquah, WA, Yonkers, NY, and Norwalk CT, are all aging satellites with tons of shiny new substitutes available.

In just about every state, movers are turning on yesterday’s star suburbs; they make up 8 out of the 10 least popular cities and 30 of the 50 states’ top exit cities.

The exceptions are Port Richey, FL, a saltworks settlement that eventually came to be absorbed into Tampa’s expanding suburban belt but was never a flagship suburb, and Moscow, ID, a college town.

Yet even Port Richey fits the pattern overall: 2025’s top exit cities are overwhelmingly spots where nearby competition is fierce, either in terms of amenities, age, price, or geography.

Why are Older Suburbs Losing New Residents?

So is it all about price? Hurricane fears? A desire for new ice rinks and flashier shopping centers? Newer (and larger) homes?

Undeniably, a core issue is higher housing prices. They’re associated with lower inflow, and 6 of the top ten most expensive cities are also among the top ten with the lowest in-to-out ratios overall: Issaquah, WA, San Marcos, CA, Ellicott City, MD, Yonkers, NY, Norwalk, CT, and Woodbridge, VA. 

That underscores that house hunters value the discounts they get by choosing nearby alternatives to the cities on our list.

Sometimes, they’ll save a lot of cash.

Take Issaquah, Washington state’s biggest exit city.

If a new Seattleite considers Issaquah, they may like East Renton Highlands (26% less expensive), Maple Valley (30% less expensive), or the mountain enclave of North Bend (12% less expensive). 

The 14 extra miles of highway commute to North Bend puts buyers at the trailhead deep in hiking and skiing country, a world away from the hillsides of cookie-cutter townhomes they’ll find back in Issaquah. That kind of lifestyle glow-up is key to top-performing cities vs. their less popular cousins. 

The pattern is echoed on the East Coast. In Ellicott City, MD, the average home price is $728,402. Newcomers willl pay ~54% less in Baltimore’s top move-to suburb, Aberdeen, without giving up access to the same labor market or Chesapeake fishing, boating, and boardwalks.

However, while home prices are important, they’re not the only thing that matters.

Besides Home Price, Which Factors are Sinking Some Cities?

In many of the lowest-cost out-move cities, like Port Richey, FL, affordable home prices aren’t offsetting coastal insurance premiums, older housing stock, rough commutes, and a lack of amenities. And the same story is true in other low-cost exit cities.

Besides home prices, the factors that lead to exits include:

• Insurance and climate risk
• Aging or less functional housing stock
• Newer, better neighboring cities
• Weak job prospects

Looking at the 10 most affordable high-exit cities, cost remains associated with a higher exit rate. But other factors can also be responsible for tipping affordable cities into “outmove” territory.

For example, among the most affordable exit cities, high outmigration shows up where there’s older, less functional housing stock (as in Kenosha, WI, and Joliet, IL, with more expensive, but larger, newer housing nearby). 

In Pleasant Prairie (adjacent to Kenosha), the average house was constructed in 1994 (compared to Kenosha’s 1968). There’s also nearby Somers, Mount Pleasant, and even outlying Milwaukee-side neighborhoods that are still commutable, like Oak Creek and Franklin.

And then there’s Joliet, once a hub of inland industry, which has merged with Chicago’s suburbs as they pushed west. In recent years, its mid-century homes haven’t been able to compete with newcomers like Plainfield, Shorewood, and New Lenox.

Sure, places like Kenosha and Joliet are more affordable than many of the alternatives. But they’re still losing to more expensive neighbors.

Finally, weak job prospects in some top exit locales erase affordability gains. Take Monroe, LA, Memphis, TN, and Dayton, OH. 

In Dayton, manufacturing job losses and higher-than-average unemployment can make the Columbus and Cincinnati job markets more appealing.

In Monroe, a fragile wage ladder pushes residents elsewhere. With 39% poverty in the city, the primary job cluster (trade/trasportation/utilities) down,  and a very low median household income of $~36.5K, low home prices aren’t a draw.

Memphis is seeing similar job outflow — manufacturing, information, and education are all down year over year, and transportation is flat. L

Ultimately, low prices aren’t functionally “low” when residents can’t make enough to thrive in these cities where industry is sliding. The result? Exiting residents, seeking greener pastures.

Which Region’s Exit Cities are the Least Popular of All?

The Mid-Atlantic is the weakest region. The problem of sagging suburbs failing to wow new movers is especially evident here, 4 of the bottom quartile (of the 12 least popular cities by state) are located in the Mid-Atlantic.

With an average in-to-out ratio among the least popular cities of 0.60, the Mid-Atlantic is the worst-performing region overall.

And echoing the weakness of West Des Moines, the region’s weakest spots skew toward satellites with high prices and plenty of substitutions: Woodbridge, VA (25 miles from Washington, D.C.), Ellicott City, MD (Baltimore), Yonkers, NY, and Bayonne, NJ (both near New York City). 

Among weak performers, the worst outcomes show up here because multiple problems stack up in the Mid-Atlantic: there are older, less functional homes, high housing costs, and easy nearby substitutes.

Conversely, the Northeast is particularly strong with a couple of solid boosters in the region: Bangor, ME (with an in-to-out ratio of 1.85) shows that even unpopular cities by Maine’s standards can be winning new moves. And Burlington, VT, with a .95 ratio, also props up the regional average. Lagging cities like Lowell, MA (.43) and Norwalk, CT (.42) show strong exit intent, but perhaps their movers are just heading to Bangor?

In the end, there’s enduring interest in western and southern cities where newer, larger housing stock is more commonplace. In all states, that desire for breathing room, updated features, and lower costs has eclipsed the once-paramount need to make it to the office on time.

Whether that’s because of hybrid and remote work, we can’t be sure. 

The trend away from legacy suburbs could also be indicative of Americans wanting larger families, living in more multi-generational homes, or a stronger distaste for spending weekends replacing those Clinton-era cherry wood cabinets.

Regardless of the reasons, 2025’s top exit cities tell us much about what Americans do want.

Bigger, Newer, & Cheaper Wins in 2025

In the end, suburbs that were once their city’s crown jewels, ringed with parks, restaurants, and soccer fields, are sinking under the weight of aging homes and high prices predicated on commuters seeing value in a slightly shorter daily drive.

Remote work and lifestyle needs have changed that. New development has, too. With nearby alternatives, once “desirable” suburbs are starting to look dated, and those new builds with extra square footage and a maintenance-free lifestyle are looking like dream homes.

Comparing these least-popular cities to some of their states’ most popular suburbs makes it even clearer: cost is important, but lifestyle helps win new movers, too.

Methodology

To determine the top exit city in every state, we looked at moveBuddha’s most recent mover search data to compile a list of moves that were searched anytime in 2024 and 2025 (up until October 14, 2025). 

Not all will finalize their moves, and we won’t know where they went until this year’s census data comes out in 2026. However, the data reveals where movers’ heads are right now, and how moving trends are shaping up this year compared to last.

Only cities with at least 20 searches for moves both in and out — and with multiple cities to compare per state) were considered. That left Hawaii, Alaska, and Washington, D.C. out of this analysis. The final comparison included 1,121 total cities.

There were 5 states that didn’t have a single city in the dataset with an in-to-out ratio less than “1” meaning there was not technically a top “exit” city according to mover search data. These cities, instead, were the most “moved out” of cities in their state:

• Bangor, ME (1.85)
• Sioux Falls, SD (1.41)
• Sheridan, WY (1.05)
• Martinsburg, WV (1.00)

We also used Zillow Home Value Index data (August 2025) for home cost averages.

Here is the full list: