(NewsNation) — According to U-Haul, 2022 was another record year of people moving to Florida and Texas.
Texas has topped that chart for two years in a row now, followed by Florida, the Carolinas and Virginia. Meanwhile, New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois and California are at the bottom of that list.
“The 2022 trends in migration followed very similar patterns to 2021 with Texas, Florida, the Carolinas and the Southwest continuing to see solid growth,” John Taylor, U-Haul International president, said in a statement. “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.”
Still, SFGATE reports that several cities in California actually had a net gain of residents, including Los Angeles, San Diego, Modesto and Redding. In fact, the Sacramento-Roseville area remained one of the nation’s top growth markets, a U-Haul spokesperson told the news outlet in an email.
U-Haul migration trends do not correlate directly to population or economic growth, the company noted in a press release. But they are an “effective gauge” of how well states are attracting and maintaining residents, U-Haul said.
Texas is now home to 30 million people. Census data shows more than 470,000 people moved there since July 2021. States like New York lost more than 180,000 people in the same time frame.
There are a few reasons for this. Among them are the states’ climate and taxes.
There are no state income taxes in both Texas and Florida, and the cost of living is lower.
One realtor in Florida told NewsNation that every home she’s sold lately has been to a buyer from out of state.
“A lot of people who move down here from California or New York could sell their property there and buy twice or three times the size of their property here in cash, just because it costs so much more to purchase property, or the standard of living was so much higher up there than down here,” Michelle Keohane of Infinite Real Estate said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted about the U-Haul data, saying people are “flocking to Texas” because of its “low taxes, reasonable regulations…and world-class workforce.”
“The lone star state is a beacon of freedom and opportunity where all Texans can thrive,” he wrote on Twitter.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also mentioned how many people are moving to the state in his inauguration speech just a few days ago.
Meanwhile, in New York, one of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s goals was to curb the population loss.
“We must reverse the trend of people leaving our state in search of lower costs and opportunities elsewhere. We can do this,” Hochul said, according to the New York Post. “We have to make our state more affordable. Yes, people want to be here … And New Yorkers are just struggling to pay rent, food and gas to get to their jobs. They’re hurting. Our people are hurting. We’re going to fight for them.”