A little more than half of Oregonians moved here from out of state.

California, Texas, New York, Latin America. People come from all over.

And we move around a lot. Census data shows that, across all states, a little more than 40% of Americans live in a state other than the place where they were born.

Migration is economically vital to Oregon because more people die here each year than are born here, and because it has the oldest population of any state in the West. Unless Oregon draws from elsewhere, its workforce will dwindle and there will be fewer people and resources to care for our aging population.

Oregonians tend to come from big states close by. More than 600,000 arrived from neighboring California, the most populous state in the union. Another 200,000 Oregonians came south from Washington.

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Texas, New York and Illinois each contribute about 60,000 Oregon residents. Those states aren’t close by but, like California, they’re among the largest states and so have more to give.

Nearly 500,000 Oregon residents moved here from other countries. The census numbers don’t tell us, specifically, which countries but they do tell us which region. The top ones are Latin America (43%), Asia (33%) and Europe (15%).

Migration into Oregon has been slow since the pandemic. The state’s population growth was among the lowest in the U.S. during 2025.

That’s a big switch. Oregon — like other western states — used to be a big draw for people seeking a fresh start. That’s why Oregon still has a relatively high share of people who moved here from elsewhere, even though it hasn’t drawn as many recently amid rising housing costs and a dwindling labor market.

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Oregon ranks No. 10 nationally for the highest share of residents who moved in from out of state. Nevada is No. 1 (73%), followed by Florida, Arizona and New Hampshire (all around 60%).

The places with the highest share of residents who were born in the state where they live today are a mix of the upper Midwest and deep South. More than 70% of people living in Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin were born in those states.

This is Oregon Insight, The Oregonian’s weekly look at the numbers behind the state’s economy. View past installments here.

SALT LAKE CITY — Healing doesn’t always come from the conventional health care system, says Rep. Jake Fitisemanu.

For some, said the Democratic lawmaker from West Valley City, care comes in the form of home remedies, “dandelion tea from leaves you picked out in the yard,” a special massage, a visit to a religious or cultural elder. With that in mind, he’s sponsoring legislation that would exempt any “traditional healing provider” in the Native American community from having to get a state license.

HB277 is “about clarity, and it’s about access to these kinds of cultural traditions and our healing traditions that have sustained our wellness and our health in our families and in our communities for generations and generations,” he said during debate this week on the measure. The Utah House approved the measure on Wednesday in a 51-18 vote, and it now moves to the Senate for consideration.

As is, Fitisemanu said, whether traditional healers need to be licensed by Utah is “a little gray area,” and his measure aims to clarify their status. The legislation, which wouldn’t grant authority to healers to prescribe drugs, would apply to healers practicing in concert with traditions of American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

Yvette Romero Coronado, an associate professor in the University of Utah College of Social Work, spoke in favor of the measure during a Feb. 9 House committee hearing. She noted practices family healers would apply on her as a child to draw out “negative energies” and said she continues some of the practices.

Some people, she said, are reluctant to tell their conventional health care providers that they visit traditional healers, worried about getting them in trouble.

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“This bill would say to my family, to me and my clients, it is legal and OK to seek services, and (say) to our trusted elders and practitioners, it’s legal and OK to provide those culturally aligned services,” Romero said. “Traditional medicine practitioners are carriers of important knowledge and cherished members of our community. By passing this bill, we remove a barrier to accessing care. We create an environment where integrative care is possible, and we support the community’s self-determination to seek the care that they see fit.”

The bill has the support of the Navajo Nation Council, the governing body of the Navajo Nation, the Urban Indian Center in Salt Lake City and other Indigenous organizations, Fitisemanu said.

Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, R-Syracuse, asked during Wednesday’s House discussion whether the measure would open the way for legal use of peyote. Fitesemanu said his legislation doesn’t change existing legal restrictions pertaining to the drug, used by some Native American communities in spiritual and religious ceremonies.

After federal data revealed that nearly 2,000 people were taken into ICE custody in Washington between the start of President Trump’s second term and October 2025, The Seattle Times found that 47% of those who were taken into custody had no criminal convictions or pending charges.

KIRO hosts Ursula Reutin and Spike O’Neill were appalled at the findings due to the Trump administration’s promise to target the most violent offenders, but now individuals without a criminal history are being arrested.

“It’s just like promises kept, promises made, promises broken, from the Trump administration,” Spike said. “Nobody campaigned on clearing out the Home Depot workforce or the kitchen staff here, there, and everywhere. That’s not what people campaigned on. They campaigned on the worst of the worst. We all, I think, support the removal of the worst of the worst. But you mentioned 47% in Washington have no criminal record.”

Ursula noted that a small percentage of the 2,000 ICE arrests made in Washington had a criminal with a violent crime, while a vast majority had nothing worse than a traffic violation.

“When we break it down, we’re talking about a very, very tiny percentage, 13%, being violent crimes,” Ursula said. “If you have a violent crime, you should be deported, period. But we’re talking about, again, some kind of traffic infraction. It’s eye-opening when you see what was promised, and what is actually happening.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.