Virginia Falls 7 Spots In New U-Haul Growth Ranking

VIRGINIA — Virginia's popularity may be fading among people choosing to relocate to a new state, according to U-Haul's newly released Growth Index.

Each year, the moving company releases the latest migration trends for each U.S. state based on the number of one-way moves by U-Haul customers. More than 2.5 million moves occurred last year through the company, according to the index.

While the ranking may not correlate directly to population or economic growth, the company claims the index is "an effective gauge of how well states and cities are attracting and maintaining residents."

Virginia came in at No. 17 on the 2024 index, down seven spots from the previous year. Despite the state's decline in the ranking, more people arrived in the state (50.1%) than left (49.9%), according to U-Haul data.

Notable growth markets were Richmond, Fredericksburg and Lorton, according to data.

Nationally, South Carolina climbed three spots in the ranking to unseat Texas as the No. 1 growth state. Of all U-Haul movers coming and going from the Palmetto State in 2024, more than 51.7% were arrivals.

Texas came in at No. 2 followed by North Carolina, Florida and Tennessee.

California experienced the greatest net loss of do-it-yourself movers, landing at No. 50 for the fifth consecutive year. Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts rounded out the bottom five states on the index.

“State-to-state transactions from the past year reaffirm customer tendencies that have been pronounced for some time,” U-Haul International President John (J.T.) Taylor said in a statement. “Migration to the Southeast and Southwest continues as families gauge their cost of living, job opportunities, quality of life and other factors that go into relocating to a new state."

According to Taylor, out-migration remains most prevalent in several states across the Northeast, Midwest and West Coast.