Who's moving to and from Watauga County, North Carolina?

More left than arrived in 2022–23: 2,520 people in, 2,811 out. Most were moving between North Carolina counties.

See where they went ↓
Net change
−291 people
−233 households
Arrivals' income
$75.8k
avg income reported on the second-year tax return
Leavers' income
$57.3k
avg income reported on the second-year tax return

Where people leaving Watauga County went in North Carolina

Orange lines show departures · thicker line = more people

Moves to and from other North Carolina counties, 2022–23. Out-of-state moves, like Johnson County, TN, are listed below.

Where did newcomers come from?

About 6 in 10 already lived in North Carolina. People, 2022–23.

  1. Mecklenburg County154
  2. Wake County151
  3. Ashe County146
  4. Avery County114
  5. Catawba County59
  6. Forsyth County51
  7. Buncombe County49
  8. Smaller moves from many other places (each under 20 households)1,510

Where did people go?

About 6 in 10 who left stayed in North Carolina. People, 2022–23.

  1. Ashe County222
  2. Mecklenburg County136
  3. Wake County128
  4. Avery County120
  5. Caldwell County108
  6. Buncombe County90
  7. Johnson County, TN76
  8. Smaller moves to many other places (each under 20 households)1,529

Some numbers are withheld

County flows may be withheld because of fewer than 20 returns or other IRS disclosure rules. We show these as —. It doesn't mean nobody moved.

Arrived from abroad
withheld
Left for abroad
withheld

Moves abroad are never included in net change.

Is Watauga usually growing from moves?

No. More households have left than arrived every year since 2013–14.

Net migration · households (tax returns)
13–1414–1515–1616–1717–1818–1919–2020–2121–22−23322–23††‡†
Net migration of Watauga County (Net migration · households (tax returns))
YearValue
2013–14−183
2014–15 †−116
2015–16−19
2016–17 †−11
2017–18−40
2018–19 ‡−204
2019–20−127
2020–21−191
2021–22−210
2022–23 †−233

The IRS changed its processing in 2014–15, 2016–17 and 2022–23. Compare years between the dotted lines. ‡ County disclosure-method change in 2018–19: small counts began being deleted rather than reassigned to similar categories. County figures across this break may not be comparable.

Cite this page

Moved Where. “Who's moving to and from Watauga County, North Carolina?” movedwhere.com/county/watauga-county-nc. Data: IRS Statistics of Income migration data, 2022–23.