A “Welcome to Florida” sign greets drivers on Interstate 95 as they cross from Georgia. Florida is one of the top destinations for people leaving Massachusetts, new research says. iStock photo
Will the last person leaving Massachusetts please turn out the lights?
For decades, home prices and rents have escalated across the state amid a chronic shortage of homes of all types.
Hyper-regulation of new housing development by cities and towns and entrenched NIMBY attitudes have stifled the construction of new homes, apartments, condominiums – you name it
It is a statewide problem and increasingly a national one as well. But it is even worse in the Boston area, where the mismatch between a surging economy and chronic shortage of all types of housing has been the greatest.
Issues like home prices and rents are one of the biggest concerns for middle-class families, but the wealthy have grown disenchanted as well over the relatively new Millionaires Tax and the state’s still-low estate tax threshold.
Nor it is just about home prices, with concerns over red tape and business regulation and counterproductive tax measures.
Now we are starting to see a growing number of people head for the exits, from young professionals and families just starting out to wealthy couples nearing retirement.
High Earners Fleeing Taxes
A growing number of reports from sources that include the Massachusetts Society of CPAs, the Pioneer Institute and the IRS, among others, are documenting the exodus. Last week, MassCPAs released their annual competitiveness survey, which asks members what percentage of their clients have moved out of state.
Forty percent of CPAs who took part in the survey said they have seen anywhere from 1 percent to as many as 10 percent of their clients exit Massachusetts, with Texas, Florida and New Hampshire the top destinations.
That follows last year’s survey, in which nearly half of the CPAs surveyed reported seeing as many as 10 percent of their clients leave for other states.
The MassCPAs also found that the percentage of members who saw as many as a quarter of their clients move out of state rose to 15 percent in 2026, up from 12 percent in 2025.
The vast majority of CPAs surveyed, or 84 percent, stated that the new Millionaires Tax – or the 4 percent surcharge on earnings above $1 million – “was at least one factor in their clients’ consideration to move,” the report noted.
“Publicly available data now reinforces what our members have been seeing firsthand: People are leaving Massachusetts, including high earners who play an important role in generating state revenue, supporting charitable giving and driving economic growth,” said Zach Donah, CAE, President and CEO of MassCPAs, in a statement.
We Lost 30K People, $4.2B in a Year
But the Millionaires Tax was just one part of a broader set of concerns about the cost of doing business in Massachusetts, with 45 percent of CPAs surveyed saying their clients see the state as less economically competitive than its peers.
“Massachusetts remains a global leader, but those strengths must be actively protected,” he said.
Meanwhile, newly released IRS data shows nearly 30,000 people bailed out from the Bay State in 2023, one of the highest losses of any state.
That was down somewhat from 2022, which was an even bigger outflow. But here’s the kicker: the amount of income those leaving took with them rose to $4.2 billion, a rough indicator that the families and residents who opted to move were, on average, wealthier. But not necessarily obscenely so: The average income for someone leaving was still only $140,000.
It represented the fourth-highest loss – in terms of the billions of gross income that people moving out of Massachusetts took with them – of any state other than California, New York and Illinois.
The scale of the exodus and the amount of income leaving the state have both escalated dramatically over the past decade, and totals more than $14 billion since 2020, according to Pioneer Institute, a libertarian-leaning think tank.
Scott Van Voorhis
A third earned $200,000 or more, putting them in the top tax bracket.
Can Mass. Afford to Lose People?
Perhaps tellingly, the top destinations of these Massachusetts refugees are New Hampshire and Florida. The one thing the two states share in common? No state income tax.
“It is a higher-income person who is leaving Massachusetts,” said Jim Stergios, executive director of Pioneer Institute. “We have seen a spike in the average earnings of those who are moving.”
Massachusetts is clearly not in danger of depopulation. But a state that is already in danger of losing a congressional seat can’t really afford to lose anyone, let alone middle-class and wealthy families.
We are starting to see some trends emerge, and right now, they are moving in the wrong direction.
Scott Van Voorhis is Banker & Tradesman’s columnist and publisher of the Contrarian Boston newsletter; opinions expressed are his own. He may be reached at sbvanvoorhis@hotmail.com.
