Where Asheville’s new citizens come from

A new map from Forbes reveals interesting information about what parts of the country Asheville’s new residents migrate from — and where the city’s inhabitants go when they leave.

The map uses Internal Revenue Service data to track migrations from 2005-09, putting data behind a number of commonly heard observations about connections between Asheville and other cities. Asheville’s migrants are connected to progressive hubs like Portland, Ore., Austin, Tex., Burlington, Vt., Madison, Wisc. and Seattle, Wash.. There are also influxes in population from the Southwest (especially the Los Angeles area), the New Orleans area,, the Northeast, and many counties throughout Florida.

Counties in blue represent areas people are leaving to migrate to the selected county, and red counties where people from the selected area are migrating to. For example, in 2009, 30 Buncombe residents left for Multnomah County, Ore. — where Portland is located. But the population exchanges often go both ways: in the same year, 19 Portlanders left their city for Buncombe.

Plenty of incoming (and some outgoing) migration takes place closer to home, showing connections to areas throughout the Carolinas, Tennessee and Georgia, especially the counties near Atlanta. The data also shows migration to counties surrounding Buncombe, but plenty of people leaving other counties in WNC like Cherokee and Transylvania.

The map tracks migration numbers for any county in the United States.