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0.2.1 Residual Net Migration
Why is this important?
There is more to the population of Walla Walla County's residents than a simple tally of their numbers. Net migration offers a deeper look at the number of residents by examining the impact of people who have moved into or out of the county. To understand net migration, one must first understand its pieces. Population change is the amount by which the population grows or shrinks from one year to the next. Natural increase is calculated by subtracting the number of deaths from the number of births. So, residual net migration is essentially the number left over when you take population change and remove the natural increase. In other words, Migration = (population in latter year - population in earlier year) - (births - deaths).
The trend of net migration is an important one because it helps businesses, planners, developers, and local leaders have a deeper understanding of the composition of the county's population. Often, population growth stemming from in-migration will bring different demands for goods and services than that from natural increase. Take, for example, public education. Population growth due to natural increase will ultimately bring a demand for public school seats. The same demand may not happen with population growth from net migration. Knowing this composition should give community leaders a better tool in predicting and meeting the community's needs. In a sense, net migration is a measure of the popularity of a community or region. In rapidly growing communities, net migration contributes more to population growth than the natural increase component.
This indicator measures the residual net migration of Walla Walla County based on the population gain or loss due to migration in and out of the area. Washington State is offered as a benchmark. Additional information, including the total residual net migration in the state, can be found in the "Download Data" section.
Where are we?
From 2024 to 2025, the residual net migration in Walla Walla County was 546 people.
From 2024 to 2025, the residual net migration as a share of the total population in:
- Walla Walla County was 0.86%.
- Washington State was 0.76%.
Data Sources
Washington State Office of Financial Management: Components of Population Change
- Under the header "Components of April 1 Population Change", click on the following link link: "Population, population change, births, deaths, and residual migration by state and county, 1960 to present".
- This will prompt an Excel file to download. Specific county information can be found under the "Residual Net Migration" tab.
Note: Population numbers are estimates. According to the data source (OFM): "Estimates are approximations based on direct or indirect indicators and cannot be expected to be as accurate as a census. A detailed discussion about the nature of estimates and the methods used can be found in OFM’s research brief: About Population Estimate Accuracy."