Ongoing Population Slide in Hudson Valley
Is Troubling for Region’s Economic Outlook
NEWBURGH, NY—A recently released report on migration trends in Hudson Valley counties paints a sobering picture for government and business leaders as they witness the continued hemorrhaging of residents migrating from the region. A new report points to a host of demographic and economic factors that include the high cost of housing and taxes, the end of the COVID-19 era, a retirement wave of Baby Boomers and the continued employment of remote work policies by New York metro-area businesses.
The report authored by the Newburgh-based Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress noted that based on the latest Internal Revenue Service data, the Hudson Valley lost a total of 10,174 people to migration in 2021-2022 despite a continued influx of new residents from New York City. That net loss represented the largest outmigration from the Hudson Valley since 2004-2005 when thousands of Hudson Valley residents moved from the region to New York City as part of the post-9/11 return to the five boroughs.
The region has lost a net of 156,937 to outmigration since 1996, which represent about 6.5% of the Hudson Valley’s total population, Pattern officials stated. All of the nine counties of the Hudson Valley that were included in the study (Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester) lost people to migration with the exception of Ulster County, which gained 279 residents.
The price tag in connection with this outmigration is steep. The federal data show that the Hudson Valley lost a net of $592.4 million in adjusted gross incomes from households that left the region in 2021-2022 (based on federal tax returns filed in 2022-2023).
According to the “Moving In, Moving Out” report, a total of 34,601 people moved into the Hudson Valley region from New York City, while 16,050 people left the region for the five boroughs. This represented a net inflow of 18,551 people from New York City. The net inflow during the 2021-2022 period was smaller than the previous three years, each of which saw more than 20,000 people move in from New York City. Pattern officials stated that it is “fair to estimate that approximately 80,000 to 100,000 people from New York City moved into the Hudson Valley from 2019-2022.”
While there is a significant outmigration to the southern states, the largest share of locales where many residents are relocating to are the Hudson Valley’s closest neighbors—Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The neighboring counties in those states remain the biggest destination for people leaving the Hudson Valley, as 17,216 people moved just over the border during 2021-2022.
“It’s important for civic leaders in the Hudson Valley to understand all the trends that are affecting the socioeconomic and demographics of our region,” said Adam Bosch, a special advisor at Pattern. “The exorbitant cost of housing, the growing prevalence of remote work, and the retirement wave among baby boomers are all affecting the flow of people into and out of our region. When you combine these trends with significantly lower birth rates across the region, it is clear that the Hudson Valley is facing a future of population decline that will have broader effects on our workforce, our schools and the economies of scale for all kinds of public and private enterprises.”
Editor’s Note: To read the full report, see the April edition of CONSTRUCTION NEWS soon, www.cicbca.org.
Published: April 7, 2026