For most of the state's history, more people have moved away every decade than have moved into the state, and population growth has come only from net natural increase. In 1850, one-third of all free, native-born North Carolinians lived outside the state, chiefly in Tennessee, Georgia, Indiana, and Alabama. The state suffered a net loss of population from migration in every decade from 1870 to 1970.
Before 1890, the emigration rate was higher among whites than among blacks; since then, the reverse has been true, but the number of whites moving into North Carolina did not exceed the number of white emigrants until the 1960s. Between 1940 and 1970, 539,000 more blacks left North Carolina than moved into the state; most of these emigrants sought homes in the North and West. After 1970, however, black out-migration abruptly slackened as economic conditions in eastern North Carolina improved. Net migration to North Carolina was estimated at 278,000 (6th among the states) from 1970 to 1980, at 83,000 (9th among the states) from 1980 to 1983; and 347,000 (5th among the states) from 1985 to 1990. Between 1990 and 1998, the state had net gains of 501,000 in domestic migration and 49,000 in international migration. In 1998, 6,415 foreign immigrants arrived in North Carolina. The state's overall population increased 13.8% between 1990 and 1998. In the period 1995–2000, 919,336 people moved into the state and 581,453 moved out, for a net gain of 337,883, 20,922 of whom were age 65 or over.