KUAR | By Hunter Field / Arkansas Advocate

More new Arkansans moved to the Natural State last year from Texas and California than any other states, according to state driver’s license data.

The Division of Motor Vehicles issued 44,271 license transfers in 2023, offering one of the first looks at inbound migration.

The top seven states for in-bound license transfers last year were:

Texas: 7,993
California: 4,293
Missouri: 3,329
Oklahoma: 2,652
Florida: 2,609
Tennessee: 1,852
Louisiana: 1,830

Texas, California residents top out-of-staters moving to Arkansas in ’23, DMV data shows

*Nicole Xu For NPR*
Thousands moved to Arkansas from neighboring states, California and Florida according to new data from the state Department of Finance and Administration.

KUAR | By Ronak Patel

Using license registrations, the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) compiled a list to show where new residents are migrating from.

Scott Hardin, spokesperson for the DFA, said when new residents move to the state, they have to register for an Arkansas license and this information allows the department to see where residents are moving from. At the top of the list, was Texas with over 9,000 residents moving to Arkansas in 2022. Second on the list was California with slightly more than 5,000 of their residents moving to the state. Hardin said that caught the eye of the DFA.

“I don’t think you necessarily hear a lot about Californians moving to Arkansas from California. We hear a lot about Californians moving from California to Tennessee and to Austin,Texas. You hear about that but you don’t hear about Arkansas in that conversation, and I think Arkansas is becoming a piece of that conversation,” he said.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2023-04-20/arkansas-department-of-finance-and-administration-report-shows-where-new-residents-came-from