Richmond is becoming a magnet for Fairfax movers

Driving the news: Fairfax has been shedding residents for years as more people move out of the county than into it, Cardinal News reports.

• Just over 76,000 people left in 2023, according to the latest IRS data, which tracks where tax returns are filed (and locality changes within those filings).
• More than half of those movers left the state, and the majority of those who stayed in Virginia moved somewhere else in NoVa.

Yes, but: When Fairfax residents leave NoVa, Richmond is increasingly where they land.

• "There has been no other part of the state that has seen such a jump in the number of people moving in from Fairfax County," Yancey writes.

By the numbers: 1,540 Fairfax residents moved to metro Richmond in 2023, per Cardinal News' data. Including:

• 518 to Richmond city
• 469 to Chesterfield
• 451 to Henrico
• 102 to Hanover

Stunning stat: That's about a 74% increase in the number of people who moved from Fairfax to Richmond in 2005, according to Axios' analysis of Cardinal News' numbers.

Between the lines: Affordability, job opportunities and housing costs are the biggest drivers of people relocating in-state or out, according to Virginia Realtors' analysis of the IRS data.

The bottom line: The Fairfaxians (Fairfaxers?) are here, so let's be welcoming to our new neighbors. Just as long as they leave traffic and Tyson's back home.