MIDDLETOWN, N.Y.–Orange County was hit hard by out-migration from 2021 to 2023, a time marked by high housing prices, remote work, and growing retirement numbers, a new domestic migration study by the Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress shows.
The report found that Orange County suffered the third worst net loss of population and income of the nine counties in focus. The study covered Westchester and Rockland counties in the south, up through Orange, Putnam, Dutchess, Ulster, Sullivan, Greene, and Columbia counties farther north.
Between 2021 and 2023, Orange County had a net population loss of 1,811 people, and lost $191.3 million in net income. Many people who leave Orange County move to nearby counties in New York, Pennsylvania, or New Jersey….