{"id":731,"date":"2026-05-26T15:27:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T15:27:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/?p=731"},"modified":"2026-05-28T15:34:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T15:34:45","slug":"5-26-26-california-is-chattanoogas-top-source-of-out-of-state-migrants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/05\/26\/5-26-26-california-is-chattanoogas-top-source-of-out-of-state-migrants\/","title":{"rendered":"5\/26\/26: California is Chattanooga\u2019s Top Source of Out-of-State Migrants"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"601\" height=\"452\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/05\/Picture1.png\" alt=\"map showing net in-migration to Chattanooga\" class=\"wp-image-657\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.3252937325569376;width:394px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/05\/Picture1.png 601w, https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/05\/Picture1-580x436.png 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 601px) 100vw, 601px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>An article in the Chattanooga Times Free Press looks at the findings of the latest CRER while paper on domestic migration: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Although many new Chattanooga residents still come from elsewhere in Tennessee, California has been the Scenic City&#8217;s largest out-of-state source of transplants over a five-year period.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>A net total of nearly 6,500 Californians moved to the Chattanooga metropolitan statistical area between December 2020 and December 2025, according to a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.utc.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/2026-05\/crer-white-paper-17-migration.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recent paper<\/a>\u00a0from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The paper&#8217;s author, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.utc.edu\/gary-w-rollins-college-of-business\/crer\/people#HowardJWallDirectorandChiefEconomist\">CRER director and chief economist Howard Wall,<\/a> said that<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>&#8220;We&#8217;re not really different from other places in receiving Californians,&#8221; Wall said. &#8220;It&#8217;s really a California story as much as a Chattanooga story of a gigantic state where people are leaving. They&#8217;re moving to the South and Texas.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>&#8220;You&#8217;re not moving to Tennessee to turn it into a liberal paradise,&#8221; he said. &#8220;You&#8217;re leaving California to get a place that fits you more politically. I don&#8217;t have numbers on that, but I think it&#8217;s actually pretty significant.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesfreepress.com\/news\/2026\/may\/26\/california-is-chattanoogas-top-source-of-new-out\/#\/questions\">Read the story here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An article in the Chattanooga Times Free Press looks at the findings of the latest CRER while paper on domestic migration: Although many new Chattanooga residents still come from elsewhere in Tennessee, California has been the Scenic City&#8217;s largest out-of-state source of transplants over a five-year period. A net total of nearly 6,500 Californians moved&hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><span><a class=\"more-link button text\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/05\/26\/5-26-26-california-is-chattanoogas-top-source-of-out-of-state-migrants\/\"><span>Continue Reading <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2009,"featured_media":657,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-731","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-media","8":"category-research","9":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>5\/26\/26: California is Chattanooga\u2019s Top Source of Out-of-State Migrants - Center for Regional Economic Research<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/05\/26\/5-26-26-california-is-chattanoogas-top-source-of-out-of-state-migrants\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5\/26\/26: California is Chattanooga\u2019s Top Source of Out-of-State Migrants - Center for Regional Economic Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An article in the Chattanooga Times Free Press looks at the findings of the latest CRER while paper on domestic migration: Although many new Chattanooga residents still come from elsewhere in Tennessee, California has been the Scenic City&#8217;s largest out-of-state source of transplants over a five-year period. A net total of nearly 6,500 Californians moved&hellip; Continue Reading\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/05\/26\/5-26-26-california-is-chattanoogas-top-source-of-out-of-state-migrants\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Center for Regional Economic Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-26T15:27:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-28T15:34:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2026\/05\/Picture1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"601\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"452\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Howard Wall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Howard Wall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/26\\\/5-26-26-california-is-chattanoogas-top-source-of-out-of-state-migrants\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/26\\\/5-26-26-california-is-chattanoogas-top-source-of-out-of-state-migrants\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Howard Wall\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ac8ac7d353aec89023a6f279055ecfa7\"},\"headline\":\"5\\\/26\\\/26: California is Chattanooga\u2019s Top Source of Out-of-State Migrants\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-26T15:27:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-28T15:34:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/26\\\/5-26-26-california-is-chattanoogas-top-source-of-out-of-state-migrants\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":187,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/26\\\/5-26-26-california-is-chattanoogas-top-source-of-out-of-state-migrants\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/152\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/Picture1.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Media\",\"White Paper\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/26\\\/5-26-26-california-is-chattanoogas-top-source-of-out-of-state-migrants\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/26\\\/5-26-26-california-is-chattanoogas-top-source-of-out-of-state-migrants\\\/\",\"name\":\"5\\\/26\\\/26: California is Chattanooga\u2019s Top Source of Out-of-State Migrants - 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