Rank 22 of 51 by domestic migration per 1,000

West Virginia

West Virginia gained through both migration channels, from other states and from other countries, while recording more deaths than births. Every net resident added here arrived; none were born here on balance.

Measured as counts rather than rates, the channel that moved the most people in West Virginia over 2021–2024 was births minus deaths. That is a statement about volume, not direction: a channel can be the largest by losing.

Domestic migration+11,089+6.3 per 1,000 residentsMovers arriving from, or leaving for, other US states.

International migration+7,561+4.3 per 1,000 residentsNet arrivals from outside the United States.

Births minus deathsmoved the most people−40,259−22.7 per 1,000 residentsNatural change. Not migration at all, and frequently mistaken for it.

Year by year

Counts of people. Bars share one scale across all 4 years and all three channels, so a short bar is a small number rather than a rescaled one.

West Virginia, components of population change. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2024 Population Estimates: components of change.
Year	Domestic	International	Births	Deaths	Natural
2021	+2,984	+727	17,056	27,577	−10,521
2022	+289	+1,673	17,028	29,906	−12,878
2023	+3,296	+2,320	16,895	25,911	−9,016
2024	+4,520	+2,841	16,680	24,524	−7,844

Ranked just above and below West Virginia

21Missouri+6.9 / 1,000 23Kentucky+6.0 / 1,000

More on West Virginia

West Virginia on the State Development Index What West Virginia is distinctive for Economic development offices All 51 jurisdictions, decomposed

Vintage-year 2020 is published for a partial period and carries no companion rate, so it is excluded rather than shown alongside four full years it cannot be compared with. A work of the U.S. government: no copyright subsists (17 U.S.C. §105). Source file