Searches for “moving to Canada” have soared following Donald Trump’s election win.
As news trickled in overnight that the former president would return to the White House, many Americans seemed to consider the idea of relocating north, with Google Trends reporting a peak number of searches related to the topic.
With 277 electoral votes to Vice President Kamala Harris’ 224, Trump has won the 2024 presidential election. So far, the former president has carried the key swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin and North Carolina. During a victory speech in West Palm Beach, Trump said his win would usher in a “golden age for America.”
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By 8 p.m. ET on election night, searches for “how to move to Canada” had a 400 percent day-to-day increase.
Searches for “how to legally move to Canada” were also up 200 percent over the last day, Google Trends showed.
Searches about moving to Canada were highest in Vermont, Oregon and Washington, states that voted overwhelmingly for Harris.
Related searches along the lines of “moving to Canada requirements” and “moving to Canada from U.S.” were also breakout Google Trends, meaning they increased in popularity by more than 5,000 percent over a given time-period—in this case the past day.
On social media, comments about moving to Canada appeared to be proliferating.
“I’m packing my bags and moving to Canada,” wrote one user on X, formerly Twitter.
Another posted information on the ways in which Americans could immigrate to Canada.
On June 27, following President Joe Biden’s televised debate with Donald Trump, searches for moving to Canada significantly increased.
After Trump won the 2016 election, the Canadian immigration website crashed because of the unprecedented high numbers of traffic. At the time of writing, the website continued to be up and running.
However, those wishing to move north might find themselves in a tight spot, as Canada is due to cut the number of immigrants it allows next year.
On October 24, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that in 2025, Canada would reduce the number of permanent immigrants from 500,000 to 395,000, a 21 percent decrease.
Explaining these changes, Trudeau said, “We are acting today because of the tumultuous times as we emerged from the pandemic, between addressing labor needs and maintaining population growth, we didn’t get the balance quite right.”
Federal data shows that in 2023, 97 percent of Canada’s population growth was driven by immigration.
Canada’s unemployment rate is 6.5 percent, rising to 14 percent for those between the ages of 15 and 24.
