As cyclones increase in frequency and severity, more people experience their adverse impacts. However, little is known about post-cyclonic migration patterns in coastal southern Bangladesh, a cyclone-prone area. This paper compares post-cyclonic migration patterns with non-cyclonic migration in terms of who migrates, where they migrate to, why they migrate, and the barriers to migration. 472 households across 16 blocks (moujas) were selected by stratified sampling. A survey collected individual and household-level information regarding demographics, socio-economy, and migration patterns in non-cyclonic and post-cyclonic situations. The analysis demonstrated that, in non-cyclonic situations, secure employment represented the migrants’ main livelihood while, following a cyclone, non-secure professions such as day-labouring were the most prevalent. The post-cyclonic migrants were, overall, less educated and less wealthy landless and marginal farm holders compared to those who migrated in the non-cyclonic period. Most people migrated to nearby districts following a cyclone, whereas long-distance migrations were found in non-cyclonic periods. We thus argue that, in a non-cyclonic period, people migrate for employment and are in a stronger position, socio-economically, than post-cyclonic migrants, while, in a post-cyclonic period, it is mainly socio-economically distressed people with non-secured day-labouring jobs who migrate a short distance area.