The Lone Star State saw the second-largest net gain of U-Haul trucks crossing its borders in 2020, making it the No. 2 U-Haul growth state in U-Haul’s annual state migration index for the second consecutive year.
Tennessee, Texas, Florida, Ohio and Arizona are the top five states Americans are moving to, according to the index. Conversely, Americans are fleeing California, Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Maryland.
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Tennessee edged Texas, the leading growth state from 2016-18, and Florida, the No. 1 growth state for 2019, for top honors on the new U-Haul index. Texas has ranked as either the No.1 or No. 2 growth state each year since 2015.
U-Haul publishes its state migration index annually by calculating the flow of one-way truck traffic between its 22,000-plus locations.
“While U-Haul migration trends do not correlate directly to population or economic growth, the Company’s growth data is an effective gauge of how well cities are attracting and maintaining residents,” the company stated in a release.
DIY movers coming to Texas in one-way U-Haul trucks increased 9% during the past year, while departures rose 10% from 2019, U-Haul reported. Despite the larger rise in departures, arrivals still accounted for 50.2% of all one-way U-Haul traffic in Texas during 2020.
“Texas is a beast in terms of population growth,” said Sean McMullen, U-Haul Company of South Austin president. “Tons of new residents are moving here from the West Coast. I talk to customers every day from California, Oregon and Washington. They want a change in scenery, but they want to maintain their lifestyles. COVID-19 has been a struggle, but it doesn’t seem to slow people from moving into Texas.”
Texas’s leading growth cities include Tyler, Conroe, Longview, Richardson, Kingwood, College Station, the Round Rock/Pflugerville corridor, and Arlington.
Other notable net-gain cities included San Marcos, Pharr, New Braunfels, the Spring/The Woodlands corridor, Cypress, Katy, Abilene and McKinney, U-Haul reported.
“Texas is a wonderful state full of diverse cultures and inviting people. We have a little bit of everything, from big cities to wide-open country,” said Kevin Harless, U-Haul Company of East Dallas president.
To view the U-Haul state migration index in its entirety, visit uhaul.com.