Turns out the pandemic was good for one positive trend. More people than ever moved away from U.S. counties at risk for poor air quality. The tendency continues today, but not to the same extent.
A new report from Redfin shows that counties at low risk posted a net inflow of 296,342 in 2025, roughly half the 594,556 inflow in 2021.
Relocation trends are strongly related to housing costs. Many high-risk counties that are losing the most residents—including Los Angeles County, Kings County (Brooklyn), Orange County and King County (Seattle)—are among the nation’s most pricey. Several high-risk counties gaining residents, like Ada County, Idaho (Boise) and Weld County, Colorado, are more affordable.
The slowdown in those moving also reflects how people are no longer leaving job hubs so quickly. Santa Clara County, California, lost 19,775 residents in 2025, down from 58,753 in 2021. Los Angeles County’s net outflow fell to 105,471 from 195,168, while Kings County’s dropped to 38,847 from 100,839.
Air quality has suddenly become more important to people as wildfire smoke becomes more prevalent and intense. The Spokane Complex fires covered much of Washington, Oregon and Idaho in smoke in early August, and Canadian wildfires spread smoke through the Midwest and East Coast in July. Nearly all of the country is susceptible to smoke and/or smog at least some of the time, according to Redfin.
“Wildfire smoke doesn’t respect state lines,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “My family left Seattle for a small town in Wisconsin during the pandemic. We had many reasons for moving, but a bad smoke event was the final straw. Then the smoke followed us. This summer, Wisconsin and the entire Midwest had stretches of awful air from fires hundreds of miles away.
“That experience evolved the way I think about climate migration: You can choose a place with lower risk, but there’s no smoke-free bubble to move to. For most people, the answer isn’t packing up and leaving—it’s adapting to a world where bad-air days can show up almost anywhere.”
