Where Are All the New Residents of Memphis Moving From?

Memphis has long been a transportation and business hub, so it’s no surprise it’s attracting new residents from nearby locales.

Although the metro area population grew just .07 percent from 2015 to 2016, the Memphis area has in fact attracted more than 34,000 residents from other places over the past five years.

Between 2015 and 2016, the Memphis metro area’s population went from 1,341,954 people to 1,342,842, according to the latest census figures. Shelby County, where the city of Memphis is located, actually contracted slightly. Its population went from 936,131 to 934,603 between 2015 and 2016, a .16 percent decrease.

Between 2011 and 2015, though, 34,914 people moved into Shelby County from within Tennessee and across the U.S., according to another census study.

So where are those new Memphians coming from?

Let’s take a closer look at the data. It turns out the majority, 74 percent, came from out of the state, while the other 26 percent came from within Tennessee.

Below are rankings for the top five counties of origin for movers to Shelby County:

Movers outside of Tennessee:

1. DeSoto County, MS (Southaven, just across the Tennessee border)
2. Cook County, IL (Chicago)
3. Pulaski County, AR (Little Rock)
4. Crittenden County, AR (West Memphis)
5. San Diego County, CA

Movers from Tennessee:

1. Tipton County
2. Fayette County
3. Davidson County
4. Knox County
5. Rutherford County

Above are the top places inside Tennessee that people moved to Shelby County from over the five-year period 2011-2014. Numbers represent the number of movers from that place during the period.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau