People are buying homes to be close to family, to be somewhere more affordable and to own a bigger house, but the top draw in relocating is low taxes, according to a recent analysis by Redfin.

The analysis also revealed that states with high taxes lose residents at a higher rate. In those states, for every person that moves in, an average of 2.5 person leaves, it said.

The survey of more than 600 Redfin.com users who have moved to a different metro in the last 12 months or plan to do so in the next 12 months showed that 21% of homebuyers who are relocating said the main reason they are doing so is for lower taxes.

The low-tax states that are gaining residents include Nevada, Florida, South Carolina and Texas. The analysis found that in the past eight years, for every one person who moved out of those states, an average of four people moved in from other parts of the country.

Nevada, Redfin noted, has the sixth-lowest tax rate in the country and had the most gains in residents. For every nine people who moved into Nevada from 2013 to 2020, just one person left. Florida, with the seventh-lowest tax rate in the country, took in more residents than all but four other states from 2013 to 2020, the report said, noting that for every seven people who moved in, just one left. 

South Carolina, which has the lowest tax rate in the U.S., has the 11th-highest in-migration rate, along with Delaware; for every five people moving in, one person left from 2013 to 2020. And for Texas, which has the eighth-lowest tax rate in the country, for every five people moving into the state, one person leaves.

Redfin said parts of Nevada, Florida and Texas typically dominate its most popular destinations for homebuyers moving to a different metro area. Austin, Texas, it said, has been a hot spot. Austin Redfin agent Andrew Vallejo noted in a statement that three-quarters of his clients are moving from the Bay Area, and some are coming from other parts of California or New York.

“There are a lot of reasons to move to Texas, but for many homebuyers the fact that there’s no state income tax is one of the most attractive things. I have one client who moved his entire company from California to Texas because it has lower taxes. Low taxes are also motivating big companies like Tesla, Apple and Google to open offices in Austin, which brings in even more people,” he said.

Vallejo also noted that with low taxes come higher home prices in Austin. He added that builders and sellers can price homes higher than they used to because buyers are willing to pay more. The data showed that the average out-of-town homebuyer in Austin had a 32% higher budget than local residents and home prices were up more than 42% year-over-year to $465,000 in April.

As for states with high tax rates, Redfin said they are experiencing heavy out-migration. New York, Illinois and New Jersey are among the top states in terms of both taxes and the number of people moving away. New York, the survey said, has the sixth-highest tax rate in the U.S., and has lost more residents than any other state from 2013 through 2020, where for every eight people who left, just one moved in.

California, Redfin pointed out, has the highest tax rate in the country and while more people moved out than moved in over the last decade, the state ranks No. 15 in terms of out-migration, with roughly one person moving in for every three people who left.

Redfin’s analysis found that there are a few high-tax states that are gaining residents from other states. Arizona, Idaho and Colorado are among them. Arizona, with the fourth-highest tax rate in the country and the second highest in-migration rate, has one person leaving the state for every seven people who move in.

Idaho and Colorado, with the third- and fourth highest in-migration rates in the country, respectively, see roughly seven people moving in for every one who leaves, Redfin said.

The migration rates for 2013 through 2019 are from the U.S. Census Bureau.