Drew Dixon
Florida has fallen as a relocation destination among Americans looking to start a new career or life.
Florida is still ranked fourth in the country among state growth in 2024, according to a new study by U-Haul, the moving rental company. But that’s down from last year’s No. 2 ranking for Florida.
The top 5 states for growth were all in the Sun Belt area. South Carolina topped the list after being ranked fourth last year. Texas fell to second after topping the list in 2023. North Carolina kept its No. 3 ranking in state growth.
Tennessee was just behind Florida at fifth, the same ranking as last year for Tennessee.
U-Haul compiled the rankings of growth in states by calculating each state’s net gain or loss of customers who rented one-way equipment from the moving rental company in a year. There were more than 2.5 million one-way U-Haul rentals in 2024.
“State-to-state transactions from the past year reaffirm customer tendencies that have been pronounced for some time,” said John “J.T.” Taylor, U-Haul international president, in a company news release.
“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.”
California ranked last on the list of migration to states.
The slipping of migration to Florida in recent years has raised concerns in other studies. The Florida Chamber of Commerce issued a migration report in December that showed the number of people moving to the state has been dropping for a number of years. While there’s no doubt people are still moving to the Sunshine State, with a net total increase of 126,000 migrants in 2023, the state Chamber said that’s much fewer than what Florida is accustomed to.
“While this figure reaffirms Florida as a top destination for new residents, it also represents a nearly 50% decrease from the previous year and marks the first major decline in net migration in a decade. The report attributes this shift to two key factors: rising housing costs and perceived limited career opportunities for younger, early-career workers,” a Chamber news release said last month.
A major concern for Florida Chamber officials is that younger people are passing up on moving to Florida. People 60 or older are still moving to Florida more than any other state. But people aged 20 to 29 are dropping “in significant numbers,” according to the Florida Chamber analysis.
One comment
Victoria A Olson
January 8, 2025 at 6:41 pm
The reason young people are moving is the pay scale for even professional jobs is too low. There are few Unions to keep them here where they can earn a living wage.