This map shows where people moved during the pandemic

• Census Bureau data highlights the counties that had more people moving in than out during the pandemic.
• The above map shows net domestic migration in the US during at least part of the pandemic.

Startup founder Haider Ejaz moved from San Francisco to Portland, Oregon in October 2021. Ejaz told Insider's Hana Alberts one reason for the move was because Portland isn't as expensive.

"For example, it's $3,000 a month just for rent for a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco. (I lived alone in a one-bedroom apartment in the Sunset district and then in the Castro.) I would spend half that here in Portland," Ejaz told Insider.

Ejaz was far from alone. Recent county-level data from the Census Bureau shows what migration looked like during part of the pandemic — from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021. Around two-thirds of the 3,143 county and county equivalents in the US had postive net domestic migration — or people coming from within the US — during this time.

The above map highlights where people were moving in and out of within the US based on data from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021. We adjusted net domestic migration by populations as of July 1, 2020. Counties and county equivalents in red mean there were negative rates of net domestic migration during this time. That means more people were moving out of the county to another place in the US than were moving into this county from other US locations. Places in blue mean the opposite — they were seeing positive rates of net domestic migration.

The following table shows the counties with the largest increase per 1,000 residents in domestic migration among those with a population of at least 10,000 as of July 1, 2020:

The table below highlights the 10 large counties with the biggest decreases per 1,000 residents in domestic migration. Rates were adjusted by county populations as of July 1, 2020.

Not only was New York County among the large places with the biggest rates of negative domestic migration, but it had the second-largest negative net domestic migration, -113,642. This county was one of the places that saw its overall population drop over a 12-month period. In fact, just looking at counties with a population of at least 20,000 as of July 1, 2021, it had the largest percent decline in its population.

Los Angeles County, California, surpassed New York county in its negative net domestic migration with a value of -179,757.

People may have moved around the US for different reasons during the pandemic. For some working Americans, remote work may have been one reason behind their move. They may have seen an opportunity to look for new places to live if they have decided to not go back to in-person work.

"For the first time, remote work allowed many people across the country to see a life in which the location of their job and where they live did not have to be one and the same," Upwork chief economist Adam Ozimek wrote in a statement as reported by Insider's Dominick Reuter.

Outside of the pandemic's impact, people may have just been simply interested in looking for somewhere cheaper to live.