Moving On
Popular answers for why people move to or from a state or region often involve weather; choosing the sunny South over the frozen North; jobs, selecting hot spots as Silicon Valley over the struggling Rust Belt; and room, traveling to the less dense West from megalopolises big urban in the Northeast and Midwest.
Those reasons all carry statistical weight, according to marketplace research based on U.S. Census Bureau figures. Another observation, that people are moving to small states and out of big ones, also makes the case at least in 2017.
In its 41st annual National Movers Study, relocation carrier United Van Lines singled out baby boomers, the generation now aged 54 to 72, for shaking up traditional migration patterns.
“Based on people who move in and out of states, people are moving to small states and leaving large ones,” the moving van company says. Its recently released study found shifts in movements are “partly because of new relocation habits of Baby Boomers.”
According to United Van Lines, “many Boomers have traditionally located to the South to find warm weather, and Florida has gotten the reputation as the state where people from the large population centers in the Northeast retire.” The transportation company surmises that areas in the Mountain States and Pacific Northwest have become more popular. “Nearly 55 percent of total moves to and from the Mountain West (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming) were inbound,” the company says. “Just more than 52 percent of the movement to the Pacific Western states was inbound, more proof of a migration West,” according to the company.
The top 10 states that people are moving into, in order, are Vermont, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, South Dakota, Washington, South Carolina, North Carolina, Colorado and Alabama.
At least one retailer attached itself to the United Van Lines study, as Duck brand manufacturer of packing tape and related products cited the survey in releases within states that made the top 10 list. Seeking to “unbox the trends,” Duck included additional moving-related figures. “Ever wonder how many times the average person has moved? (Spoiler: 5 times),” the company noted. “And, did you know Americans take 182 days to finally unpack their last box after moving into a new home?” Duck brand posits.
A comprehensive look at in migration and out migration patterns among states appears on the Governing informational guide's website.
Using Census Bureau totals, Governing annually computed the migration rate per 1,000 residents from 2011 to 2016. Just one state, Florida, posted double-digit-percentage migration gain in all five years, spanning from 10.3 percent in 2012-13 to 16.4 percent in 2014-15. Fueled by a natural gas and oil rush, North Dakota saw four straight double-digit hikes topping out at 25.2 percent in 2012-13. But the migration headed in the opposite direction in 2015-16, dropping 6.2 percent.
A handful of states posted five years of out-migrations. They included Alaska, which cratered at -11.1 percent in 2014; Connecticut, falling to -3.6 percent in 2016; Illinois, dropping to -6.5 percent in 2015; Michigan, reaching -1.6 percent in 2015; Mississippi, sinking to -3.7 percent in 2015; New Jersey, dipping to -1.9 percent in 2016; New Mexico, sinking to -5.5 percent in 2014; New York, reaching -3.7 percent in 2016; and Wisconsin, sliding to -1.3 percent in 2015.
Another 25 states and District of Columbia showed five years of in-migrations, but not with consistent double digit-growth as in Florida. The states are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington.
The remaining 15 states showed at least one year apiece of in-migration and out-migration or level movement in and out of state.
While Florida had consistent gains with the Governing findings, the state was not listed in the top 10 of United Van Lines in-migration rates for 2017.
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