Southern states are among the most popular destinations for self-service moves, according to data collected by truck rental service U-Haul. South Carolina saw the most inbound one-way trips for the first time, moving from No. 4 in 2023 to No. 1 in 2024.
Texas, North Carolina, Florida and Tennessee followed on the list of most inbound migration. Texas had previously been the No. 1 growth state for move-ins between 2021 and 2023, and has ranked either first or second every year since 2016. Florida has ranked fourth or higher on the list every year since 2015.
Top 10 growth states for one-way moves
| State | |
|---|---|
| 1. | South Carolina |
| 2. | Texas |
| 3. | North Carolina |
| 4. | Florida |
| 5. | Tennessee |
| 6. | Arizona |
| 7. | Washington |
| 8. | Indiana |
| 9. | Utah |
| 10. | Idaho |
SOURCE: U-Haul
California experienced the greatest net loss of do-it-yourself movers, and ranked 50th for the fifth consecutive year in 2025, followed by Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.
“State-to-state transactions from the past year reaffirm customer tendencies that have been pronounced for some time,” said John Taylor, president of U-Haul International, in the news release. “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. Out-migration remains prevalent for a number of markets across the Northeast, Midwest and West Coast — and particularly California.”
Oklahoma saw the strongest growth in self-service move-ins, moving up 30 spots from No. 41 in 2023 to No. 11 in 2024. Colorado fell 31 spots, down to No. 40 from No. 9. Indiana and Maine also saw strong inbound growth, while move-ins slid down in Nevada, Wyoming and New Mexico.
This data aligns with the in- and out-migration trends recorded by the U.S. Census’s latest American Community Survey. Nine out of the top destinations for net migration in 2022 were in the South and Southwestern U.S., led by Florida, Texas and North Carolina as the top destinations, according to analysis of the Census data by StorageCafe.
The South was the only U.S. region seeing population gains from interstate moves that year, with almost 690,000 net move-ins. At the same time, half of the nation’s 10 busiest state-to-state migration routes originate in California — net migration from California to Texas alone was over 100,000 in 2022.
