(The Center Square) – Texas and Florida were the top destinations of one-way U-Haul® truck customers in 2022, according to U-Haul’s annual Growth Index.
The company announced that migration to the Southeast and Southwest U.S. continued last year, with the no-state income tax states of Texas and Florida topping the list for inbound movers. Both states are led by Republican governors.
Demand for rentals for one-way trips out of blue states continued with the most rentals coming from California, Illinois, and New York.
“The 2022 trends in migration followed very similar patterns to 2021 with Texas, Florida, the Carolinas and the Southwest continuing to see solid growth,” U-Haul International President John Taylor said. “We still have areas with strong demand for one-way rentals. While overall migration in 2021 was record-breaking, we continue to experience significant customer demand to move out of some geographic areas to destinations at the top of our growth list.”
The report found that more Americans overall continued to leave the West Coast, Northeast and Midwest, with California and Illinois ranking last and next to last, respectively, on U-Haul’s Growth Index for the third consecutive year. This means the two blue states “saw the greatest net losses of one-way U-Haul trucks,” the company said.
The U-Haul Growth Index compiles data related to the net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks arriving in a state or city compared to those departing them in a calendar year. Its annual index was based on state migration data from over 2 million one-way U-Haul truck transactions.
Texas ranked first as the top growth state for the second year in a row in 2022 and for the fifth time since 2016, according to its data. Florida ranked second and as of 2022 ranked as a top-three growth state for seven years in a row, according to the report.
Ranking behind Texas and Florida as top growth and destination states were South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Arizona, Georgia, Ohio and Idaho. California ranked last, followed by Illinois, Michigan, Massachusetts and New York as the bottom growth states in 2022. It was also the second year in a row that California ranked last.
Of the ranking, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said, “People are flocking to Texas because of our low taxes, reasonable regulations, and world-class workforce. The Lone Star State is a beacon of freedom & opportunity where ALL Texans can thrive.”
The report’s findings are consistent with new Census data showing that Texas and Florida lead the U.S. in population growth.
In 2022, Texas had the largest population gains; Florida had the fastest population growth.
Last year, Texas for the first time became the only state other than California to have more than 30 million residents, although California continued to record a population decline.
It was also the first time the Census Bureau named Florida as the fastest growing state in the U.S. since 1957.