Since 1977, United Van Lines, a moving service company, has annually tracked migration patterns on a state-by-state basis. The 2018 study is based on household moves handled by United within the 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C. and ranks states based on the inbound and outbound percentages of total moves in each state.
United Van Lines classifies states as “high inbound” if 55 percent or more of the moves are going into a state (deep blue color), “high outbound” if 55 percent or more moves were coming out of a state (deep yellow color) or “balanced” if the difference between inbound and outbound is negligible (gray color).
Feel free to pick any state and get the statistics of the primary reason for moving, age ranges, and income range in the below iterative map.
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The results of United Van Lines’ 42nd Annual National Movers Study, which tracks customers’ state-to-state migration patterns over the past year, revealed that more residents moved out of New Jersey than any other state in 2018. The study also found that the state with the highest percentage of inbound migration was Vermont. Oregon experienced the second highest percentage nationally inbound moves.
The top inbound states of 2018 were:
- Vermont
- Oregon
- Idaho
- Nevada
- Arizona
- South Carolina
- Washington
- North Carolina
- South Dakota
- District of Columbia
New to the 2018 top inbound list are Arizona at No. 5 and District of Columbia at No. 10, with 60.2 percent and 56.7 percent inbound moves, respectively.
The top outbound states for 2018 were:
- New Jersey
- Illinois
- Connecticut
- New York
- Kansas
- Ohio
- Massachusetts
- Iowa
- Montana
- Michigan
New Jersey (66.8 percent), which has ranked in the top 10 for the past 10 years, moved up one spot on the outbound list to No. 1. New additions to the 2018 top outbound list include Iowa (55.5 percent), Montana (55 percent) and Michigan (55 percent).
In several states, the number of residents moving inbound was approximately the same as the number moving outbound. Arkansas and Mississippi are among these “balanced states.
Source: United Van Lines. Data courtesy of United Van Lines Movers Study © 2019
Demographic data only available for 2013 through present.
https://www.unitedvanlines.com/contact-united/news/movers-study-2018