The Capital Region Gained and Lost the Most Wealth from These Counties

The Capital Region’s ability to attract higher-earning taxpayers helped offset a small contraction in its base of individual income tax filers in 2019, resulting in an annual net gain of wealth, as measured by adjusted gross income (AGI), according to a Center for Economic Growth analysis of new Internal Revenue Service migration data.

Taxpayer Migration

In 2019, 29,458 individual income tax returns¹ were filed with the IRS by tax filers in the Capital Region but who had a different address a year earlier. More than half (15,242) of that migration consisted of Capital Region taxpayers who relocated within the eight-county region. Excluding this intra-region migration, the Capital Region’s inflow of new tax returns totaled 14,306 with an AGI of $1.36 billion.

During the same period and excluding the intra-regional migration, 15,909 returns were filed by tax pay filers who  had lived in the region in 2018 but had moved out of it in 2019. This out-of-region outflow migration accounted for $1.35 billion in AGI. As a result, the region’s net inflow of tax returns was -1,603, but its AGI net inflow was $12.1 million.

Wealth Migration

The Capital Region gained nearly 45 percent ($612.3 million) of its new wealth (AGI) from New Yok counties outside of its borders, and 55 percent ($747 million) from other states. Within New York, the counties that sent the most wealth to the region were New York ($170 million), Kings ($30 million) and Queens ($26.2 million) counties. The leading non-New York inflow counties to send wealth to the region were Palm Beach County in Florida ($14.1 million), Fairfield County in Connecticut ($8.6 million) and Middlesex County in Massachusetts ($7.1 million).  

Within New York, the Capital Region lost the most wealth to New York ($35.8 million), Kings ($16.5 million) and Fulton ($13.2 million) counties. Outside New York, the region lost the most wealth to Middlesex County in Massachusetts ($16.2 million), Maricopa County in Arizona ($14.4 million) and Palm Beach County in Florida ($14.4 million). Among U.S. regions, the South accounted for the largest inflow of wealth ($2.7 million) but also its largest outflow ($4.1 million).

CEG Initiatives

To attract more people to the Capital Region, CEG recently launched the CapNY, with CAPable of aNYthing, campaign to market the region for new talent.  A new website, (www.gocapny.com) and its associated social media channels (@GoCapNY) will act as key modes of communication to interact with the brand and serve as primary platforms to market the region. The campaign focuses on mobile Millennial and Gen Z professionals and highlights for them the unique attributes of the eight-county, 1-million-strong Capital Region, including its vibrant urban centers, affordability, educated workforce, cultural assets, recreation, creative businesses, innovation, and proximity to major international cities.

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