New York is the second-largest out-of-state source of new households in Wake County. IRS migration data for filing years 2022–2023 recorded 1,888 tax-filing households — 3,237 individuals — moving from New York into Wake County, carrying $166.4 million in adjusted gross income, or about $88,154 per return. Because the IRS builds this series two and a half to three years after the moves happen, it describes 2022–2023, not the present.
How many people are moving from New York to Wake County?
1,888 households and 3,237 individuals, per the most recent IRS Statistics of Income (SOI) county-to-county migration release — the second-largest state-of-origin flow into Wake County behind Florida. These are federal tax returns that changed county of residence between the 2022 and 2023 filing years, not home sales or closings. The average return carried $88,154 in adjusted gross income at the destination year, describing the group as a whole and not any individual household.
Which New York counties send the most people to Wake County?
Suffolk, Queens, and Kings (Brooklyn) lead the New York-to-Wake flow. Together they account for more than a third of all New York returns arriving in Wake County in this release.
| Rank | New York county | Returns to Wake | Share of NY-to-Wake total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Suffolk | 246 | 13.0% |
| 2 | Queens | 234 | 12.4% |
| 3 | Kings (Brooklyn) | 220 | 11.7% |
Suffolk is Long Island’s outer county; Queens and Kings are outer boroughs of New York City. New York County — Manhattan — does not appear among the leading counties in this release. The remaining New York returns are spread across smaller counties below the reporting threshold for an individual ranked line.
Why is the pattern Long Island and the outer boroughs, not Manhattan?
This is the distinctive fact in the data: the three leading New York counties sending households to Wake County are a Long Island suburb and two outer boroughs, not the county most people picture first when they hear “New York.” The IRS data does not record why, but it does record what — and what it records is a suburban and outer-borough pattern, not a Manhattan one. Any explanation involving cost of living, commuting distance, or housing type is a reasonable read of that pattern, not something this dataset states directly.
What changes about the type of housing — co-op or attached to detached with land?
Much of Suffolk, Queens, and Kings housing stock is attached — co-ops, condominiums, and rowhouse-style construction are common across those three counties, in contrast to Wake County’s predominantly detached, single-family housing stock on individual lots. That is a structural difference in the housing itself, not a judgment about either place: a co-op board approval process and a shared-wall building have no real equivalent in a detached Wake County subdivision, and a buyer moving from one to the other is adjusting to a different set of maintenance, land, and association mechanics, not just a different price.
How does property tax structure differ in Wake County versus New York?
Wake County’s current property tax rate is $0.5371 per $100 of assessed value, and Cary layers its own municipal rate of $0.3400 per $100 on top of the county rate for property inside town limits — both figures as reported in the Town of Holly Springs’ FY2026–27 budget message dated May 12, 2026, at which point Cary itself had not yet set its FY27 rate. That combined county-plus-municipal structure, reassessed on the county’s periodic revaluation schedule, is the relevant comparison point for a Wake County purchase. New York’s own assessment and exemption mechanics — including any co-op or STAR-type treatment specific to the prior county — do not carry over, and any specific New York figure belongs in a conversation with the prior county’s assessor or a CPA familiar with both states, not on this page.
How does day-to-day commuting change?
Wake County and Cary are built around road-based commuting by car; the subway, Long Island Rail Road, and bus networks that structure daily movement across Suffolk, Queens, and Kings have no direct equivalent here. That is a change in daily mechanics as much as a change in cost — a household giving up transit access is generally taking on a car, and often a second one, as a basic requirement of daily life rather than an option.
How does school assignment differ from New York City?
Wake County Public School System assigns students to a school based on the home address, not on a citywide or borough-wide choice process. That is a mechanical difference from New York City’s more centralized and choice-based enrollment system: in Wake County, the specific address a household buys or rents at determines the assigned school, and two houses on the same street can occasionally carry different assignments depending on the attendance boundary drawn between them. Anyone relocating with school-age children should confirm the assignment for a specific address before treating any neighborhood as settled — see how Wake County school assignment works for the mechanics.
What do New York movers find hardest about this move?
Giving up transit-based commuting for car-based commuting is the adjustment people most often name, because it changes a daily routine rather than a one-time decision. The address-based school assignment mechanic in Wake County — in place of a citywide choice process — is a close second, particularly for households used to applying to schools rather than being assigned one by address. A less financial adjustment is the closing process itself: North Carolina requires a licensed attorney to conduct a residential real estate closing, which is a different process and a different set of relationships than a New York closing.
What can’t this migration data tell you?
This is IRS Statistics of Income county-to-county migration data for filing years 2022–2023. It records a change in the county of the mailing address on a federal tax return between two consecutive filings — nothing more. It does not record why anyone moved, so any explanation involving cost, commuting, retirement, or remote work is a reasonable hypothesis, not a finding in this data. It has no ZIP code or neighborhood detail below the county level, so it cannot say which part of Wake County New York arrivals settled in. County pairs with fewer than 20 returns are suppressed from published rankings, and it only captures taxpayers who filed federal returns in both years, missing non-filers entirely. Treat every figure above as what it is — a return-level count for 2022–2023 — and nothing more.
For the county-by-county migration picture behind this page, see where Wake County movers come from. For broader guidance on relocating into the Triangle, see Triangle relocation guidance. For Cary specifically, see the Cary overview. For how Wake County and Cary property tax bills are actually assembled, see property taxes in Cary, Morrisville, and Wake County.
Moving here from somewhere else
- Moving from Florida to North Carolina: What the Data Shows
- Moving from California to North Carolina: What the IRS Migration Data Shows
- Moving from Northern Virginia to North Carolina: What the IRS Migration Data Shows
- Cary, NC Commute Distances and Routes to RTP, Raleigh, and RDU
- Things to Do in Cary, NC
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.