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Americans are continuing to flee high-tax, high-crime, “sanctuary” cities (and states) for the friendlier confines of the south, according to data released this week by one of the nation’s largest moving companies.
According to U-Haul, the trend of southern states being on the receiving end of one-way moves “continued during 2024” – although there’s a new lead dog at the head of the pack.
Topping the company’s list for the first time ever? South Carolina…
The Palmetto State ranked No. 1 nationally on U-Haul’s annual “Growth States” index, which is determined by compiling “each state’s net gain (or loss) of customers utilizing one-way U-Haul equipment in a calendar year.” According to the data, of all U-Haul movers “coming and going from the Palmetto State in 2024,” 51.7% were arrivals.
Last year South Carolina ranked No. 4 nationally with a 51.4% arrival clip. The Palmetto State has ranked in the top five nationally in seven of the past eight years, according to the data.
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The U-Haul Growth States of 2024 list is here!
— uhaul (@uhaul) January 2, 2025
South Carolina dethroned Texas to secure the top position in 2024.
Texas, the number one growth state for the previous three years (2021-23), now holds second place, followed by North Carolina in third, Florida in fourth, and…
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Texas – which led the nation on the index from 2021-2023 – ranked No. 2 on the 2024 list. Regional peers North Carolina, Florida and Tennessee rounded out the top five.
“State-to-state transactions from the past year reaffirm customer tendencies that have been pronounced for some time,” said John “J.T.” Taylor, U-Haul’s president. “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.
California ranked No. 50 on the index for the fifth straight year, with Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania rounding out the bottom five states.
U-Haul’s data was released two weeks after the U.S. Census published its latest population estimates, which once again revealed the south as the nation’s “fastest-growing and largest-gaining region in the country.”
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According to the bureaucratic bean counters, the area “added more people than all other regions combined” between 2023 and 2024. South Carolina ranked No. 10 on the Census Bureau’s list of states by numeric growth with 91,001 new residents – and ranked No. 5 nationally in terms of its percentage population growth at 1.7%.
Previous mid-year data had the Palmetto State leading the nation in population growth on a percentage basis.
Obviously an influx of new taxpayers is a good thing… provided they are contributing to the expansion of the state’s economy. And provided they are not a net drain on existing taxpayers, who are struggling on both the employment and income fronts.
The numbers do highlight South Carolina’s need to address critical infrastructure, education and tax issues during the upcoming session of the S.C. General Assembly, which convenes on Tuesday (January 14, 2025).
BANNER VIA: U-HAUL
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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