Citable statement
In ACS 2024, 18,100 people living in California reported living in Virginia one year earlier (± 4,368, 90% margin of error).
- Source ·
- U.S. Census Bureau, State-to-State Migration Flows: 2024 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates (Table T13). Official release Jan 21, 2026. Margins of error are 90% MOE.
- Status ·
- Latest available as of Sep 7, 2026. No 2025 state-to-state table is published.
- Limitation ·
- A previous-residence count of people, not household-goods shipments, trucks, or permanent relocations. The distance on this page is state-centroid straight-line, not driving miles. No price, fuel, or toll figure exists in this dataset.
- Cite as ·
- IMMERVEIL, “Virginia to California migration, ACS 2024”, https://immerveil.fyi/routes/virginia-to-california — derived from U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2024 1-year Table T13.
What the figure measures
Tabulation of current state of residence crossed by state of residence 1 year ago. This is a 1-year mobility / previous-residence statistic, not a count of household-goods shipments.
Universe: population 1 year and over. Dataset: State-to-State Migration Flows: 2024 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates (Table T13). Official release: Jan 21, 2026. Last checked: Sep 7, 2026. Status: LATEST AVAILABLE. Margins of error in these tables are Census Bureau 90% margins of error.
Corridor table
| Series | Estimate | 90% MOE |
|---|---|---|
| Virginia → California | 18,100 | ± 4,368 |
| California → Virginia | 20,180 | ± 4,162 |
| Virginia out-of-state movers | 263,931 | ± 16,614 |
| California in-from-other-state movers | 406,873 | ± 16,100 |
| U.S. different-state movers | 7,157,607 | ± 75,154 |
Corridor in context · derived from the table
What makes this pair different
- Rank among Virginia outbound
- 4th of 49
- Rank among California inbound
- 7th of 50
- Rank among all state pairs
- 76th of 2,096
- Relative margin of error
- 24.1%
- Net direction at 90%
- Not established
- Geography
- No shared border
6.9% of outbound
4.4% of inbound
Eligible pairs in ACS 2024 T13
90% interval 13,732–22,468
Difference ± 6,033
Transcontinental (over 1,500 centroid miles)
California is the 4th largest of 49 outbound destinations recorded for Virginia — 6.9% of the 263,931 people who left Virginia for another state.
Virginia is the 7th largest of 50 inbound origins recorded for California — 4.4% of the 406,873 people who arrived in California from another state.
Nationally, this is the 76th largest of 2,096 state-to-state flows that carry an estimate, a margin of error, and a reverse estimate in the 2024 table.
The 90% margin of error is 24.1% of the estimate: the Census interval runs from 13,732 to 22,468. Treat any single-year comparison inside that band as noise.
California → Virginia exceeds Virginia → California by 2,080 (1.11× the other direction), but that difference sits inside its own 90% margin of error (± 6,033). At 90% confidence the table does not establish a net direction for this pair. Open the reverse corridor.
Virginia and California do not share a land border. 2,215 state-centroid straight-line miles; IMMERVEIL planning band: Transcontinental (over 1,500 centroid miles). Not driving miles.
Derivations: ranks are competition ranks among cells that carry an estimate (ties share a rank); shares divide the pair estimate by the state’s ACS total; the difference test uses √(MOE₁² + MOE₂²) per Census Bureau statistical-testing guidance; the distance band is an IMMERVEIL planning label on centroid miles, not a tariff zone. Corridor context module v1.0.
Distance note
2,215 miles is the state-centroid straight-line distance between TIGER-derived geographic centroids of Virginia and California. It is not driving mileage, not a highway recommendation, and not a shipping zone. Driving or route miles require a city-to-city pair and a licensed routing provider — this page does not invent that figure. State centroids are computed with d3.geoCentroid on TIGER-derived polygons. Distances shown on state-to-state pages are state-centroid straight-line distances. They are not driving miles, not a highway recommendation, and not a shipping zone. Driving distance requires a city pair and a routing provider.
Planning checklist
- Confirm whether the shipment is interstate (subject to federal household-goods rules) or intrastate.
- Look up the mover’s USDOT before paying a deposit. Open Mover Check.
- Read the estimate type. Open Quote Check.
- Storage between pickup and delivery is common on long corridors — treat unit size as a range. Storage calculator.
Check a mover for this corridor
Questions this page answers
- How many people moved from Virginia to California according to the Census?
- The latest official figure is the ACS 2024 1-year estimate of people living in California whose residence one year earlier was Virginia: 18,100 ± 4,368 (90% margin of error). It is a previous-residence statistic, not a count of household-goods shipments, trucks, or permanent relocations.
- Do more people move from Virginia to California, or the other way?
- California to Virginia is nominally larger (18,100 versus 20,180), but the difference of 2,080 is inside its own 90% margin of error (± 6,033). The table does not establish a net direction for this pair.
- How important is California as a destination for people leaving Virginia?
- In ACS 2024, California ranks 4th of 49 recorded destinations for people whose residence one year earlier was Virginia, taking 6.9% of that state's out-of-state movers. Ranks are competition ranks among cells with an estimate; ties share a rank.
- Is the Virginia–California mileage on this page a driving distance?
- No. 2,215 miles is the state-centroid straight-line (great-circle) distance between TIGER-derived geographic centroids. It is not driving miles, not a highway recommendation, and not a shipping zone.
- Is 2024 still the latest official state-to-state migration table?
- Yes. The Census Bureau released 2024 State-to-State Migration Flows on 2026-01-21. No 2025 ACS state-to-state table is published. Calendar year is not the dataset year.
- How should I check a mover for a Virginia to California shipment?
- Use the USDOT printed on the written estimate. Look the number up in Mover Check (live FMCSA MCMIS census) and confirm the record on FMCSA SAFER before paying a deposit. IMMERVEIL does not rank, score, or endorse carriers.
- How much does it cost to move from Virginia to California?
- IMMERVEIL does not invent a mover price, fuel, or toll bracket. ACS Table T13 and the FMCSA census do not contain those figures. Quote Check performs arithmetic on the amount printed on your estimate — including the 110% collect-on-delivery figure for a qualifying interstate non-binding estimate.