XJune 26, 2026
4,889 names landed on the US Treasury expatriation lists in 2025. The US is one of the only countries on earth that taxes you by citizenship, not by where you live.
The list is published quarterly, 1,285 then 1,057 then 1,593 then 954 across 2025. It carries former citizens and certain long-term green card holders, so it is not a clean count of renunciations. The direction is steady all the same.
The reason people reach that list is structural. A US citizen is taxed by the US on worldwide income wherever they live. Foreign tax credits and exclusions can wipe out the bill, but above the filing thresholds they do not end the annual return. Hold a green card and the same worldwide tax applies for as long as you keep it.
Leaving is not free either. Renounce above a 2 million USD net worth, one of three triggers, and you can be a covered expatriate, with most of your worldwide assets treated as sold the day before you go.
For a US person, the destination you pick changes how heavy the US layer feels. It does not remove it.
How many points of tax would you trade to step off that list, knowing the exit has its own toll?
Data from GeoCompass, the jurisdiction intelligence layer I build at Lucky Nomads.
United States
United States