Americans Continue Moving to Red States

U-Haul released data from one-way moves of 2024, finding that several of the states with the greatest number of incoming residents are Republican-led.

South Carolina led the U-Haul Growth Index for the first time, the company said. Texas, North Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee also made the list.

Texas was the top U-Haul state for the last three years.

California saw the “greatest net loss of do-it-yourself movers in U-Haul equipment and ranks 50th for the fifth consecutive year,” U-Haul said.

U-Haul’s International President, John “J.T.” Taylor, said, “State-to-state transactions from the past year reaffirm customer tendencies that have been pronounced for some time. 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.

2023 data from the U.S. Census Bureau found that red states have experienced a population surge.

“In 2023, more states gained population than has been seen since the start of the pandemic,” the report said, adding that the “increasing number of states with population growth reflects both the broad national trends of deaths and net international migration returning to pre-COVID levels as well as reduced net domestic outmigration for some of the states.”

The states with the greatest population losses included California, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. States with the greatest population growth included Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Arizona, Virginia, Colorado, and Utah.

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