Texas tops 2021 U-Haul migration growth ranking

Texas finished first in a new ranking measuring migration growth among the states based on one-way U-Haul truck traffic leaving or entering their borders last year.

For the second year in a row, California had the biggest net loss of U-Haul trucks in 2020, the moving company reported. The next biggest migration loss went to Illinois, which has ranked either 49th or 50th since the company began publishing the ranking in 2015.

Texas edged out both Florida and Tennessee, which had the most net gains in U-Haul truck traffic in 2020, the company said. What makes Texas attractive is its lack of an income tax and low cost of living, according to U-Haul.

Those states with the most migration growth are ranked based on net gains of one-way U-Haul trucks entering the state vs. trucks leaving their borders during a calendar year. Well over 2 million one-way trips are logged by U-Haul every year, the company reported.

U-Haul sees the data as a gauge of which states are attracting residents from outside their borders. Hawaii is not included in the ranking since state-to-state truck moves don’t happen there.

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U-Haul Ranking of Migration Growth Among States

2021 U-Haul Growth Rank	State	2020 Growth Rankings
1	Texas	2
2	Florida	3
3	Tennessee	1
4	South Carolina	15
5	Arizona	5
6	Indiana	12
7	Colorado	6
8	Maine	29
9	Idaho	30
10	New Mexico	39
11	South Dakota	25
12	Vermont	26
13	Wisconsin	13
14	Oregon	45
15	Washington	36
16	Alaska	34
17	Minnesota	20
18	Connecticut	43
19	North Carolina	9
20	Nebraska	32
21	Wyoming	33
22	Montana	19
23	Georgia	10
24	Ohio	4
25	New Hampshire	23
26	West Virginia	16
27	Iowa	24
28	Utah	17
29	Nevada	8
30	Delaware	27
31	Virginia	28
32	Rhode Island	35
33	North Dakota	37
34	Maryland	46
35	Washington, D.C.	38
36	New Jersey	48
37	Mississippi	31
38	Kentucky	18
39	Missouri	7
40	Kansas	21
41	Arkansas	11
42	Michigan	40
43	Louisiana	44
44	Oklahoma	14
45	New York	42
46	Alabama	22
47	Massachusetts	47
48	Pennsylvania	41
49	Illinois	49
50	California	50

Source: U-Haul International Inc.