(San Antonio) — A new study shows that more people are again moving to Texas. U-Haul recently released its latest growth index. Texas has consistently been near the top of the list, finishing second this year behind South Carolina.
U-Haul’s Matt Merrill says southern states, like Texas, continue to attract new people, who are looking for jobs or a lower cost of living.
“We see a lot of customers moving out of our blue states coming down to the South, to the red states. A lot of that has to do with a pro-business (climate) and less government control,” said Merrill.
Merrill says many of these people, who are moving here, are coming from states up north, or from the west coast.
“We see a lot of customers moving here from Illinois — the Chicago market, (from) New York, and lots and lots of customers are relocating here from California,” said Merrill.
According to the U-Haul Growth Index, South Carolina, Texas, North Carolina, Florida and Tennessee make up the top five destination for people looking to relocate. California experienced the greatest net loss of do-it-yourself movers in U-Haul equipment and ranks 50th for the fifth consecutive year.
Growth rankings are configured by each state’s net gain (or loss) of customers utilizing one-way U-Haul equipment in a calendar year. The U-Haul Growth Index is compiled from well over 2.5 million one-way U-Haul truck, trailer and U-Box® moving container transactions that occur annually.
“State-to-state transactions from the past year reaffirm customer tendencies that have been pronounced for some time,” stated John “J.T.” Taylor, U-Haul International president. “Migration to the Southeast and Southwest continues as families gauge their cost of living, job opportunities, quality of life and other factors that go into relocating to a new state. Out-migration remains prevalent for a number of markets across the Northeast, Midwest and West Coast — and particularly California.
South Carolina climbed three spots in the rankings to unseat Texas, which was the No. 1 growth state for the previous three years (2021-23). Of all the U-Haul movers coming and going from the Palmetto State in 2024, more than 51.7 percent were arrivals. Texas has ranked first or second among U-Haul Growth States each year since 2016. Florida has been fourth or higher every year since 2015. New York, at No. 47 on the list, has its lowest growth ranking in a decade.
Oklahoma (+30), Indiana (+19) and Maine (+18) are the biggest risers year-over-year on the U-Haul Growth Index. Colorado (-31), Nevada (-24), Wyoming (-22) and New Mexico (-21) saw the biggest slides in 2024.
U-Haul also released its Growth Index for Metros. Dallas was the number one location on that list. Several also Texas cities also made the Top 25 Growth Metros list, including Austin (5), Houston (9), Brownsville/McAllen (21), and Tyler (22).
While U-Haul rankings may not correlate directly to population or economic growth, the U-Haul Growth Index is said to be an effective gauge of how well states and cities are attracting and maintaining residents.
U-Haul officials say their company is the authority on migration trends thanks to its expansive network that blankets all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. The geographical coverage from 23,000-plus U-Haul rental locations provides a broad overview of where people are moving like no one else in the industry.