I don't think an increasing number of people relocating to RI is mutually exclusive with an overall decline in population, though. Higher-income people have been moving here during the pandemic because now they can. I was already here, but I'm part of this trend. In 2021 I took a Boston-area job I never would have considered two years earlier because I was only going to be expected to come into the office every other week or so. If I had to commute every day, no way. That job, in turn, enabled me to pay way more for a house than I would have been able to otherwise. RI is ideally situated for this kind of migration.

Meanwhile, as those people move in and housing costs balloon, people who can't get those sorts of jobs may be forced out, and in higher numbers than the people who are coming in. And that's not taking into account an aging population (we're the ninth-oldest state) and birth rates (we have the fifth lowest).

This. Rhode Islanders somehow think they are the epicenter of stuff like people migrating to the state and the housing/rental crisis probably exaggerates that shared consciousness. I am from southwest Florida and visited there during the holidays. Approximately 100 people move to Florida every day, and I’m not just talking about boomers. Covid changed lots of peoples decisions on where they want to live but Rhode Island is not growing much at all when it comes to the population. Anytime I fly into the state now it feels more like my sleepy Florida hometown and my hometown now feels like some mutated city.

It would be interesting to know if there is data on housing availability in addition to the population numbers. For example, have the number of single family residences (homes, apartments, etc.) increased per capita over the years? Decreased?

Also - I'm not sure even how to measure it - what about dynamics where lower income home-owners/renters are displaced by higher income ones but the net population remains constant?