Who's actually moving here? The IRS publishes county-to-county migration data built from tax returns, and I pulled the files for Macon and Jackson counties. The short version: Macon gained a net 420 to 575 people each year in the latest three years of data, and every out-of-state pipeline large enough for the IRS to name was in Florida or Georgia. Here's the full picture, with the honest caveats.
| Macon County | Jackson County | |
|---|---|---|
| Net migration, 2020-21 | +563 people | +110 people |
| Net migration, 2021-22 | +574 people | +403 people |
| Net migration, 2022-23 | +423 people | +222 people |
| Named Florida pipelines (3 yrs) | Palm Beach, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Broward | Palm Beach, Pinellas, Sarasota |
| Named non-FL out-of-state pipelines | Rabun GA, Fulton GA | none cleared the threshold |
| Movers out to any single FL county | cleared the IRS threshold once in 3 years | never |
Source: IRS Statistics of Income county migration files, 2020-2023 vintages. Figures count tax returns and exemptions, so read them as households and people who file. Flows under 20 households roll into unnamed aggregates, which means the named pipelines are the concentrated ones and the true totals run higher.
What the data actually says
Three things stand out when you sit with the tables instead of the headlines.
First, the growth is steady, not a spike. Macon County netted about 500 people a year through migration across all three years. In a county of roughly 39,000, that's real, compounding growth, and it didn't swing wildly year to year the way the national migration stories did.
Second, the out-of-state map is narrower than people think. The IRS only names a county-to-county flow when at least 20 households make the same move in the same year. For Macon County, the only out-of-state counties that ever cleared that bar were in Florida (Palm Beach, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Broward) and Georgia (Rabun and Fulton). Not Texas, not New York, not California. When people ask me who's buying here, the tax data and my phone agree: Floridians, Atlanta-area Georgians, and our own neighbors from surrounding NC counties.
Third, the doors mostly swing one way. In three years of data, movers from Jackson County to any single Florida county never once reached the reporting threshold. Macon-to-Florida cleared it exactly once. People come up the mountain and stay.
The Sarasota detail I didn't expect
The single wealthiest identified stream of newcomers to Jackson County in the latest data came from Sarasota County, Florida: about 24 households averaging roughly $210,000 in income per return. That's more than three times the average income of everyone else moving into Jackson County that year.
I read that line twice, because my family made exactly that move. We left Sarasota for the mountains in August 2020. I knew the drive; I didn't know we were a data point in the county's highest-income pipeline. If you're reading this from the Gulf Coast, you're not imagining it: your neighbors really are up here.
Where the Florida buyers land
Tampa Bay shows up most consistently: Hillsborough and Pinellas counties each cleared the threshold into Macon County in two of the three years. South Florida (Palm Beach, Broward) recurs too. That matches what I see in practice, and it's useful if you're a seller wondering who your buyer probably is, or a Florida reader wondering whether anyone else from your county has made the jump. The answer is measurably yes.
If you're weighing the same move, the practical questions are usually insurance, taxes, and what your budget buys here. I keep the honest versions of those in the Florida to NC Mountains guide and the FL-to-NC tax calculator.
The honest caveats
This is tax-return data, so it counts households that file. It undercounts retirees, which in this region means the true Florida stream is likely larger than the named figures, not smaller. The latest vintage covers moves through 2023 filings: before Hurricane Helene, and before Florida's out-migration cooled from its 2022 peak. Statewide, far fewer people are leaving Florida now than in 2022. The ones still coming tend to be doing it deliberately, for cost and insurance reasons, which is exactly the conversation I have most weeks.
Questions people ask about this data
Is Macon County growing or shrinking?
Growing through migration: a net gain of roughly 420 to 575 people per year in each of the latest three years of IRS data, before counting births and deaths.
Where are people moving to Franklin NC from?
By the IRS numbers: surrounding NC counties first (Jackson, Buncombe, Haywood, Swain), then Florida (Tampa Bay and South Florida counties) and Georgia (Rabun and metro Atlanta). Those were the only pipelines large enough to be named.
Are people leaving the mountains for Florida?
Barely, in this data. Jackson-to-Florida never reached the reporting threshold in three years; Macon-to-Florida did once. The measurable flow runs toward the mountains.
How current is this?
The IRS releases county migration data on a lag; the newest covers moves through 2023 filings. For the current pulse I pair it with statewide data and what I'm seeing in actual closings. Want the on-the-ground version for your situation? Text MOVE to (828) 371-6980 and tell me where you're starting from.
Sources: IRS Statistics of Income, county-to-county migration files (countyinflow/countyoutflow, 2020-21 through 2022-23 vintages), irs.gov. Statewide FL trend: Pew Charitable Trusts, 2026. Last updated July 1, 2026.