UNITED VAN LINES 2012 MIGRATION STUDY REVEALS NORTHEASTERN U.S. EXODUS

United Van Lines ^ | 01/05/2013

[SeekAndFind]

ST. LOUIS- The Northeast region leads the United States in outbound migration, according to the results of United Van Lines’ 36th annual “migration” study, which tracks which states the company’s customers move to and from during the course of the year. Washington, D.C., continues to lead the nation in inbound moves based on the study findings released today, which analyzed moves from the full year 2012.

“As the nation’s largest household goods mover, United’s data is an accurate reflection of the overall U.S. moving trends,” explained Carl Walter, vice president of United Van Lines. “Tracking the number of inbound and outbound domestic moves helps provide insight into overall migration trends.”

United has tracked migration patterns annually on a state-by-state basis since 1977. For 2012, the study is based on all household moves handled by United within the 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C. United classifies states as “high inbound” if 55 percent or more of the moves are going into a state and “high outbound” if 55 percent or more moves were coming out of a state or “balanced” if the difference of inbound and outbound is negligible.

MOVING IN

The top-five inbound states of 2012 were:

1. District of Columbia
2. Oregon
3. Nevada
4. North Carolina
5. South Carolina
   
   

This is the fifth consecutive year the District of Columbia (64 percent) was the top moving destination in the United States.

The Western United States is also represented on the high-inbound list with Oregon (61 percent) and Nevada (58 percent) both making the list. Oregon is number two for inbound migration for the third year in a row. Nevada returned to the high inbound traffic for the second consecutive year.

The Carolinas each made the top five with North Carolina at 56 percent and South Carolina at 55 percent inbound moves.

“The United Van Lines Annual Migration study shows the movement of people from frost belt to more sun belt states in the South and West,” said Michael Stoll, economist, professor and chair of the Department of Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles. “While big states such as California, Texas and Florida have more total moves than other states because of their sheer size, other high inbound states such as Washington, D.C., Oregon and the Carolinas may be attractive places to move because of their lower housing costs, more temperate climate, diversified and growing economies, as well as maturing manufacturing bases and high technology clusters.”

MOVING OUT

The top-five outbound states for 2012 were:

1. New Jersey
2. Illinois
3. West Virginia
4. New York
5. New Mexico
   
   

New Jersey (62 percent) displaced the outbound leader from last year, Illinois (60 percent) reclaiming the top spot for high-outbound migration that it held in 2010.

The Northeast is the most well-represented region on the high-outbound traffic list. In addition to New Jersey, New York (58 percent), Maine (56 percent) and Connecticut (56 percent) are also included.

Michigan (58 percent) and Wisconsin (55 percent) along with Illinois represented the Great Lakes region. Michigan fell to the No. 6 from the No. 4 spot it held in 2011. Previously, it had claimed the top outbound spot every year from 2006-2009.

Kentucky (55 percent) joined West Virginia (58 percent) as the only Southern states to appear on the high outbound list. New Mexico (58 percent) was the only Western state to appear on the list.

BALANCED

Several states gained approximately the same number of residents as those that left. Those states include Louisiana, Iowa, Indiana, North Dakota, New Hampshire and Maryland.

About United Van Lines
United Van Lines is America’s #1 Mover®. In cooperation with its sister company United Containers, United Van Lines is able to offer a full range of moving solutions from do-it-yourself to full-service. With headquarters in suburban St. Louis, United Van Lines maintains a network of 400 affiliated agencies. For more information about United Van Lines visit UnitedVanLines.com.

[Mamzelle]

Not California for outbound? Not Texas for inbound? Something not reliable about this data. At least I hope so. I don’t want these Yankees bringing their stupid socialism to my state...

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Michael Stoll, economist, professor and chair of the Department of Public Policy at UCLA says "[the inbound states] may be attractive places to move because of their lower housing costs, more temperate climate, diversified and growing economies, as well as maturing manufacturing bases and high technology clusters.”

LOL. Professor, you have overlooked what is obviously the key factor -- competent governance, sane fiscal policy, and low taxes. Either you are a complete dolt educated beyond your intelligence or you are a die-hard lefty who refuses to face simple, irrefutable facts. People and capital gravitate toward states and nations with good governance and low taxes. The outlier on the destination "states" is Washington DC where fedgov is adding 100 parasites per day to its payroll. Without fedgov and air conditioning, Washington DC is a miserable place to live and work. To call Washington DC a "growing economy" is an insult to all working Americans who believe in limited government.

[Minutemen]

Looks like blue states on the move-out...I suggest Hawaii for their new destination.

[theDentist]

A year, 18 months, and I’m leaving this Mass. for NC or SC. Perhaps Fla (sister nd her family moving there in a few more moths). If my brother and family hadn’t been so ill, I never would have returned from Va.

[Fzob]

The new taxes in CA need time to kick in.

[Just another Joe]

I travel the highways of the Midwest, Ohio to Colorado, North Dakota to Louisiana, extensively.

I can say without qualification that I have never, in my remembered life, seen as many U-Hauls on the road as in the last two years.

I'm not sure where they are all going, but there are a lot of people going somewhere with all their wordly goods packed up.

[az_gila]

This data is really only for families. How many young, single folks use a moving truck when they change locations.

I thought the US database from driver license changes would be a better source -

http://www.duprescott.com/productsservices/articleinfo.cfm?ArticleId=587

Of course those who use a moving truck are probably also taxpayers as opposed to tax consumers...

[Carriage Hill]

I would have bet $10 that Texas was in the “inbound states” column; glad I didn’t. Still surprises me. Yet, I know several couples moving from PA, to NH, despite the liberal hellhole it’s become.

[Patton@Bastogne]

.


Did you mean "damned New York - New Joisey - Bronx Yankees" ?

I hope so ...

.

[Boiling point]

Illegals moving in to fill the voids.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

That is a great data source, but too bad it is only for Washington state. It would be nice to have the same data for all 57 states.

U-Haul publishes its own index of in- and out-migration. It would be interesting to see the three sources blended as they cover different cohorts. Moving vans are probably used most often by professional people whose move is paid for by their company. U-Haul trailers and trucks are probably used more by younger people without a house full of furniture who are moving without the benefit of a company paying for the move or maybe by lower-income people and families. Driver Licenses no doubt overlap with both.

BTW, I use the Tableau Software at work to perform analyses (same tool used on the web page you provided). It is an outstanding analytical tool.

[JohnBrowdie]

DC being the #1 inbound destination — and has been so throughout the obamite reign — is incredibly unhealthy . . . in fact, it may be fatal.

[Hotlanta Mike]

Must be part of a grand plan by the Mule Party to infiltrate and take-over Red States through stealth migration, thereby developing a permanent electoral majority.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Must be part of a grand plan by the Mule Party to infiltrate and take-over Red States through stealth migration, thereby developing a permanent electoral majority.

Considering that 3 of the 5 TOP inbound states are BLUE STATES (DC, Oregon, Nevada ), I fail to see that grand plan.

[Chode]

DC grows in direct proportion to the number of NEW government suckholes getting jobs...

[RedMDer]

[grumpygresh]

The United Van Lines users are more likely to be wealthier than the general population as well as taxpayers, so this result is important. The upper Midwestern states need to reduce state income taxes to stem the tide of out-migration. States in the NE and IL are TF squared; they are in the death spiral.

[peeps36]

In this corner of Connecticut I see a lot of people moving South to Florida and the Carolina's. I also see more people committing suicide then ever before. Today I read the obituary of the third friend in his middle 40’s to take himself out over the last month. It's a shame to see good people become so overwhelmed.

[yoe]

Don’t you suppose the Oregon and Nevada reflect in-bounds from neighboring CA?