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U-Haul’s 2023 Growth Index report, released on Tuesday, is
calculated by comparing the net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks
arriving in a state against the net gain of trucks departing
that state.
Only California and Massachusetts ranked lower than Illinois for
outbound moves.
“While one-way transactions in 2023 remained below the record
breaking levels we witnessed immediately following the pandemic,
we continued to see many of the same geographical trends from
U-Haul customers moving between states,” U-Haul International
President John Taylor said in a statement.
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 consecutive year and sixth time in eight years.
Cory Hall, U-Haul district vice president, said people and
companies are moving to Texas for a much friendlier business
climate.
“The lower cost of living, taxes, for those companies obviously
is a huge investment for them,” Hall said. “For the employees
moving with them, obviously it is a pay increase because you're
not paying state income taxes on top of that and your property
taxes are substantially lower here than some of these larger
cities.”
The latest report is more proof that people continue to flee the
Land of Lincoln. Illinois has lost 549,000 people in the past
decade when adding up the annual population estimates from the
U.S. Census Bureau.
According to U-Haul, behind Texas, the other states people are
moving to include Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and
Tennessee.
The report notes that while migration trends do not correlate
directly to population or economic growth, the U-Haul Growth
Index is “an effective gauge of how well states and cities are
attracting and maintaining residents.”
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