Johnston County is the single largest net destination for households leaving Wake County anywhere in the United States. IRS migration data for filing years 2022–2023 shows 3,410 households moved from Wake to Johnston against 1,999 moving the other way — a net loss of 1,411 households and $112.7 million in adjusted gross income. The moves themselves happened roughly two and a half to three years before this data was published, so this describes 2022–2023, not the present.
Why does Johnston County take more Wake County households than anywhere else?
No other county-to-county pairing involving Wake produced a bigger net loss in this data. Wake sent 3,410 households to Johnston and received 1,999 back, for a net outflow of 1,411 households and $112.7 million in adjusted gross income — larger than Wake’s net loss to any other county in the country, including every other North Carolina county and every out-of-state county. The IRS records only that a mailing address changed county between two consecutively filed returns. It does not record why, so the size of this flow is a fact; the reason for it is not something this dataset supplies.
What does this migration data actually count?
Tax returns, not home sales. The IRS Statistics of Income (SOI) county-to-county migration series matches a taxpayer’s return from one filing year against the same taxpayer’s return the following year and flags a move when the county on the mailing address changes. Each flow is reported in three figures: returns (a proxy for households), individuals (exemptions claimed, a proxy for people), and adjusted gross income on the destination-year return. Nothing here is a listing, a closing, or a sale, and no figure on this page should be read as one. It is also a lagged record — the current release covers address changes captured between a 2022 return and a 2023 return, which the IRS builds and publishes roughly two to three years after the fact.
What do households moving from Cary to Johnston County actually gain?
Structurally, more land and more new construction for the same budget is the honest answer, even without a published price comparison to back it with a number. Johnston County has substantially more undeveloped land available for new subdivisions than a built-out inner suburb like Cary, where the resale market — median $611,000, $276 per square foot, 13 days on market — reflects a mature, largely built-out housing stock with little room left for large-lot new construction. A county with more open land to build on typically produces a lower cost of entry and larger lot sizes for comparable new-construction square footage, because raw land costs less per acre the farther it sits from an established job center. That is a structural tendency, not a Johnston County price. This page does not have a Johnston County median price, price per square foot, or days-on-market figure, and will not estimate one.
What do they give up to get it?
Three things that don’t show up in a listing photo. First, distance: Johnston County sits farther from Research Triangle Park and downtown Raleigh than Cary does, which means a longer commute for anyone working in either job center — this page does not have a drive-time figure and will not invent one, but the geography itself is not in dispute. Second, a complete change of school system, covered below. Third, a resale market that operates on its own terms: fewer comparable sales close to any given new-construction purchase, a shorter track record of appreciation in newer subdivisions, and county services, permitting, and infrastructure planning that are Johnston County’s, not Wake County’s or Cary’s.
Is Johnston County part of the Wake County Public School System?
No. A household that moves from Cary to Johnston County leaves the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) entirely and is assigned instead to Johnston County Public Schools, a separate local education agency with its own attendance zones, calendar, and board. This is not a reassignment within one system — it is an exit from WCPSS altogether. Anyone comparing the two should start from how WCPSS assignment works today, since that is the system being left behind; see Wake County school assignment for the mechanics.
Is this an isolated flow, or part of a bigger pattern?
Part of a bigger pattern, and a lopsided one. Wake County gained a net 3,843 households overall in this data — but that gain came entirely from out of state. Measured against other North Carolina counties alone, Wake lost 3,149 households on net and $423.6 million in adjusted gross income. Johnston’s net loss of 1,411 households is the largest single piece of that in-state deficit; the second-largest is Harnett County, at a net loss of 772 households. Wake is simultaneously a strong net importer of households from other states and a net exporter of households to its own neighbors. See where Wake County movers come from for the full set of flows in both directions.
| Flow | Returns | Individuals | AGI ($k) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wake → Johnston | 3,410 | 6,568 | 228,759 |
| Johnston → Wake | 1,999 | 3,461 | 116,020 |
| Net (Wake’s loss) | −1,411 | −3,107 | −112,739 |
| Wake’s largest in-state net losses | Net returns | Net AGI ($k) |
|---|---|---|
| Johnston, NC | −1,411 | −112,739 |
| Harnett, NC | −772 | −63,988 |
What would a fair Cary-versus-Johnston price comparison actually require?
More than this page has. A defensible comparison needs a current median sale price and price per square foot for the specific Johnston County towns in play — Clayton and Four Oaks are the two that absorb most Wake County arrivals — pulled from MLS data the same way the Cary figures above were pulled, plus a property tax rate comparison sourced from each county’s tax office, and a drive-time comparison from a mapping service for the specific commute in question, not a countywide average. Anyone who has been shown a Johnston County price and a Cary price side by side should ask where each number came from and for what date, exactly as this page is asking of itself.
What can’t this migration data tell you?
It cannot say why anyone moved. It records an address change on a tax return, not a stated reason, so any claim about affordability, retirement, remote work, or school preference driving this flow is an inference from the pattern, not a fact the IRS reports. It also has no detail below the county level — no ZIP code, no subdivision, no distinction between a move to Clayton and a move to Four Oaks — and it suppresses any county pair with fewer than 20 returns, folding those into an unranked residual. Finally, it counts filers, not everyone: a household that does not file a federal return, or that moves without a change that prompts one, may not be captured the same way.
Who does this comparison not suit?
Anyone who needs to stay inside the Wake County Public School System without exception should treat a Johnston County move as a different school system, not a Wake County alternative. Anyone whose commute to downtown Raleigh or Research Triangle Park has little flexibility should weigh that distance before the land or price advantage. And anyone pricing a specific Johnston County property against a specific Cary property should look for MLS-sourced numbers for both, not the structural reasoning in this page, which explains a pattern and does not substitute for a comparable-sales analysis.
For the broader picture of where Wake County’s movers come from and go, see where Wake County movers come from. For context on Cary itself, see the Cary overview. For general guidance on relocating into or out of the Triangle, see Triangle relocation guidance.
Elsewhere in the Triangle
- Apex, North Carolina: A Buyer’s Guide to the Town
- Cary, NC Commute Distances and Routes to RTP, Raleigh, and RDU
- Things to Do in Cary, NC
- Morrisville, NC ZIP Codes: What They Cover, and What They Don’t Tell You
- Towns Near Cary, NC: How They Actually Compare
- What Is the Triangle in North Carolina?
About the author
Cameron Smith writes Move Up NC’s real estate guidance for Cary, Morrisville and the North Carolina Triangle.
Editorial note: This article summarises published migration data and general relocation considerations. It does not rank places or provide legal, tax or Fair Housing advice.