Arizona Ranked No. 7 Of Most Popular U.S. Relocation Destinations

ARIZONA — A land of saguaros, 110-degree temperatures and plenteous javelinas and rattlesnakes, Arizona might be thought of as a state that only a resident could love. But that isn't necessarily true, according to a new study by StorageCafe.com, ranking Arizona the seventh most popular U.S. state for interstate relocations. The study also ranked each Arizona county’s moving destination appeal according to the number of new arrivals in 2018.

The study shows that across the U.S., Arizona falls in among the top 8 most popular states to move to in 2018. Here are the numbers of new interstate residents received by each state in that timeframe:

1. Florida 590,000
2. Texas 564,000
3. California 500,000
4. North Carolina 320,000
5. Georgia 274,000+
6. Virginia 274,000
7. Arizona 273,000
8. Washington 260,000

The three least popular states to relocate to, according to the study, were Wyoming with 25,700 newcomers, Vermont at 26,300 and South Dakota at 26,800.

California is the state from which most new Arizona residents moved, at about 68,516 individuals relocating to the Grand Canyon state last year. The approximate cost of making a California-to-Arizona move, according to United Van Lines data, is $3,300 to $3,600. Moving from California to Arizona was also one of the top three interstate moving routes of 2018; the others were California to Texas, and New York to New Jersey.

Within the state of Arizona, the study ranked the appeal of each county as a relocation destination, by number of new resident move-ins last year:

1. Maricopa County 141,019
2. Pima County 35,589
3. Pinal County 18,313
4. Mohave County 14,611
5. Yavapai County 9,049
6. Yuma County 7,988
7. Coconino County 6,807
8. Cochise County 6,282
9. Navajo County 1,990
10. Graham County 1,461

Additionally, the StorageCafe.com study notes that Americans rank No. 3 among 60 countries worldwide when it comes to moving frequency. Only South Koreans and New Zealanders move more often. However, the U.S. relocation rate is the lowest it’s been since 1947, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Last year, the number fell to less than 10 percent, but that still meant about 31 million Americans relocated in 2018. Of those, 4.6 million moved to another state.