In 2025, the US exited on migration

In 2025, in the United States, the number of people leaving the country exceeded the number of immigrants for the first time since the Great Depression. According to The Wall Street Journal, based on its own research and calculations by the Brookings Institution, more than 150,000 people left outside of deportation and resettlement programs, while slightly fewer people entered the country. The journal noted this is the first time in the past 80 years that emigration has exceeded immigration, which could signal shifts in migration trends and citizens' decisions about living abroad.

Context

Over recent decades, the U.S. migration balance has typically been positive, but in 2025 this indicator changed.