Infographic: Buffalo transplants prefer Tampa area

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We reviewed eight years of IRS data and found more people moving out of Erie County each year than moving in. The spread had been declining but started getting wider from 2019 to 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic hitting in 2020. The spread continued to grow, right up to 2021-22, the most recent year the data is available. There were 3,655 more people moving out of Erie County than moving in from 2021 to 2022, the numbers show.

A closer look at 2021-22

We took a deeper dive into the 2021-22 data to get a better sense of where people moving out of Erie County are going, and where those moving in are coming from.

Here's what we found:

• Most of those leaving Erie County headed out of state, often moving south. Meanwhile, more than half of those moving into Erie County are from other New York State counties.
• There's a lot of movement within Western New York, particularly between Erie and Niagara counties, but between Erie and the other six WNY counties as well. Overall, more are moving from Erie to the other counties than vice versa.

• Along the I-90 corridor, the equivalent of four people a day moved between Buffalo-Erie County and the Rochester-Monroe County communities.
• Almost 3,000 people moved from New York City to Erie County, more than a third coming from Queens, the center of New York City's Bangladeshi community. Less than a 1,00o people moved to New York City from Erie County.
• Florida is a favorite destination for Erie County residents leaving New York State, with Hillsborough County — the Tampa area — being the No. 1 Sunshine State destination.
• Outside of Florida, other top out-of-state destinations are Maricopa County, Arizona, which includes the Phoenix area; and Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, which includes Charlotte.

A lot of the movement is within Western New York counties.

There's also back and forth movement along the I-90 corridor in New York State.

A significantly larger number moved to Erie County from New York City than left Erie for the five boroughs.

Over 7,200 headed south - almost a third of all leaving Erie County, with Florida being a favorite destination.

Everyone leaving Erie County and New York State isn't moving to the Sunshine State. Here's the top 10 out-of-state, non-Florida destination counties:

Investigative Post staff