More Coloradans Are Moving to Other States Than Americans Are Moving In, a First Since 2004

For years, Colorado seemed to draw newcomers from all over.

A new estimate shows the tide turning, with more people leaving for other states than arriving over one year.

Here’s what the numbers show and what may be behind the shift for Coloradans.

Who Counted the Moves and How

Net domestic migration is the number of people who moved into a state from other states, minus the number who moved out.

The Census Bureau measures it for every state in its yearly estimates, which draw on current data on births, deaths and migration.

The set behind that number covers the 12 months from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025.

Colorado’s State Demography Office read those figures for the state and published its summary on January 27, 2026, the day the Census Bureau released them.

These are the figures showing more people moving out of Colorado than in from other states.

The 12,100 Gap

Colorado’s net domestic migration, the count of people moving between states, came to negative 12,100 over those 12 months, according to the State Demography Office.

It was the first negative year since 2004.

In the 2010s, Colorado Public Radio reports, the state gained as many as 56,000 people a year from other states.

If you moved to Colorado from another state during that decade, you were part of that gain.

Then the sign flipped.

That makes 2025 the first time in decades that the state lost people to other states.

The count has a catch, though, and it comes down to who counts as a mover.

How Other States Fared

Net domestic migration was positive in 31 states between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, according to the Census Bureau, up from 27 states the year before.

Colorado wasn’t one of them.

That left 19 states without a positive number, Colorado among them.

A Decade of Net Migration

Colorado’s net migration added about 320,000 people from 2016 through 2025.

Births minus deaths added about 210,000 people over the same stretch.

Migration led the way.

Net migration fell below that natural increase twice in those years, in 2021 and in 2025.

The office’s January 2025 newsletter put net domestic migration for July 2023 through June 2024 at a gain of 5,400.

That figure came from the Census Bureau’s earlier set of estimates.

A Slower Pace of Growth

Net domestic migration turned negative, but Colorado’s population still reached 6,012,561 by July 1, 2025, the State Demography Office says.

Growth didn’t stop.

That’s an increase of 0.4% over the prior year.

The Census Bureau puts growth for the whole country at 0.5%, or 1.8 million people, bringing the nation to 341.8 million.

Colorado Public Radio calls that the state’s lowest estimated growth rate since 1989.

More people came from abroad than left, with 15,356 more international migrants arriving than leaving.

That’s 65,380 babies born in Colorado, up 4.6% and the most since 2017.

Births outnumbered deaths by more than 20,000.

Add the domestic loss to the international gain and total net migration comes to just 3,256 people.

What Demographers Point To

The State Demography Office’s March county summary says the reasons for the reduced net migration reflect national trends.

It lists slower job growth, relative housing affordability and changes in immigration policy.

It also lists fewer people moving due to higher interest rates and aging in place.

You can find more reasons in Colorado Public Radio’s January 27, 2026, report, which says high housing prices and growing crowds are commonly cited reasons for leaving.

Then-State Demographer Kate Watkins said they may also be leaving for jobs elsewhere.

Housing is the one reason you’ll find on both lists.

County Gains and Losses

Denver and Arapahoe Counties together had a domestic net loss of nearly 18,000, the county summary says.

That’s more than the whole state’s net loss of 12,100.

Because those two counties lost more than the state did overall, other counties had to gain people from other states.

Counties are also ranked by total population change.

Weld County saw the largest change in residents, gaining 7,146, followed by Douglas County at 6,345 and Adams County at 5,411.

Since the 2020 Census, 24 counties have lost population as of July 1, 2025.

If you live in one of those 24 counties, the decline is measured against 2020, not against a single year.

The Next Estimates

The 12,100 is an estimate, and the Census Bureau has revised its estimates for earlier years.

The State Demography Office's February newsletter says the 2025 release included relatively large upward revisions for earlier years, in particular for net international migration in 2022 through 2024.

Another round is coming.