Ocala, other Florida cities among most popular U.S. relocation destinations

Several Florida cities are among the most popular sites Americans are moving to, according to yet another study on destinations for relocating Americans.

Movebuddha.com, a residential moving advisory website, published its Moving Trends Report for 2024 and found that five Florida cities are among the Top 20 relocation towns in the United States. Ocala, the report stated, is the most popular relocation destination in the country.

The study used U.S. Census Bureau data to establish metrics such as a comparison of those moving into an area compared to those moving out.. So far in 2024, Ocala has had 303 moves into the city for every 100 families leaving the town.

Pensacola was ranked 10th in the nation, with 202 moves into that city for every 100 individuals leaving.

Sarasota was ranked 15th on the list, Orlando 17th and St. Augustine 18th. Florida had a total of 21 cities in the top 100 highest ranked relocation destinations.

While there were plenty of Florida individual cities ranked highly for popular moving destinations, the Sunshine State still is far from the most popular state in America for moving relocations.

South Carolina tops the list for the most popular state for people on the move to relocate to.

“Its affordable cost of living, which is 11.5% cheaper than the national average likely plays a role. The healthcare and tech industries are also growing rapidly in many South Carolina cities like Columbia, Greenville, and Lockhart, bringing workers to The Palmetto State,” the Movebuddha.com study concluded.

West Virginia and North Carolina completed the Top 3 state relocation destinations. The least popular states for relocation destinations included California, Rhode Island and New Jersey, respectively.

The study noted that since the COVID pandemic outbreak in 2020, more Americans are on the move.

“Roughly 13% of Americans moved each year before the onset of the pandemic. After the onset of the 2020 pandemic, 22% of Americans moved in response to the virus or know someone who has. More recently, Census data shows that despite a decline in shorter-distance moves, longer-distance moves picked up in 2022 with an estimated 8.2 million moving between states in a single year,” the study concluded.

This is the second study this year that showed many Florida cities are the target destinations for relocations. A similar study by moving truck rental company Penske Truck Rental showed Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville were all in the Top 10 relocation destinations for Americans on the move in 2023.