Thousands of people have moved across state lines in recent years, and 2023 was no exception, according to new data from equipment rental company U-Haul. Lots of them chose to move to South Carolina, placing the Palmetto State in the top 5 destinations.
Each year, U-Haul releases its Growth Index report for the previous year. The company calculates the net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks arriving in a state or city against the net gain of U-Haul trucks departing that state or city for a specific calendar year. So, for example, if you moved from California to Texas with a U-Haul, it would count as a loss for California and a gain for Texas.
U-Haul says there are more than 2 million one-way U-Haul truck transactions each year within the United States and Canada.
According to U-Haul, movers preferred destinations in the southeast and southwest regions of the United States in 2023. Texas was deemed U-Haul’s most popular state for migration for the second straight year, and sixth time in eight years.
These states saw the largest influx of movers in 2023, according to U-Haul.
1. Texas
2. Florida
3. North Carolina
4. South Carolina
5. Tennessee
At the bottom of the list was California, landing in the same spot as it did in 2022. According to U-Haul, the state saw the largest net loss of one-way movers. Like Texas, U-Haul’s ranking of the Golden State seems to align with Census data. More than 817,000 people left California in 2022 compared to the roughly 475,000 that moved into the state during the same time.
