1 In 8 Out Of State Moves Went To Florida In 2019: Study

SARASOTA, FL — One in eight, or 13 percent of all out-of-state moves, were Florida bound in 2019— more than any other state — but some Florida cities fared better than others, according to a new study of 25,000 moves across the United States.

"Florida was the top out-of-state destination in 22 states of the U.S.— meaning that of people moving out of state in 2019, Florida was the most popular destination for 22 different states," according to HireAHelper, which connects people with local movers around the country.

Sarasota was the most popular Florida destination by percentage and finished third in the country overall with 58 percent more people moving in than moving out in 2019. Jacksonville was next on the list with 55.2 percent.

"In contrast, Miami, Florida experienced a net loss," the company found. The study noted that the Magic City had 46 percent fewer moves coming in than going out. "This trend of leaving big cities in favor of smaller ones could be seen across our study with Albany surpassing NYC and Scottsdale over Phoenix."

Jaclyn Lambert of HireAHelper told Patch the company has relationships with moves across the country.

"We don't have only specific areas with a large presence and some with none," she said. "Our platform is where you compared labor-only moving companies. These tend to be more affordable and common than a full-service moving company, so we find that this aligns more with how the average American moves."

Wendy Parson of the University of California San Diego noted in the study that people shifting to Florida might be following their snowbird parents.

Alaska and Hawaii were excluded from the rankings due to a lack of sufficiently representative move data.

Other states attracting a large amount of moves were Texas with 8 percent of the interstate moves, North Carolina with 7 percent, California with 5.3 percent and Georgia with 5.1 percent.

"HireAHelper looked at the origins and destinations of each move to find out which states attracted the most new residents, as well as which had more people move out of them than into them," the San Diego-based company said. "It also examined which U.S. cities were the most attractive to people and explored the distance and timings of moves, measuring out how far and when Americans were most likely to move in 2019."

Click here to read the entire study.