General Business
On Jan 3, 2025
Two weeks ago, North American Van Lines’ 2024 Annual Migration Map ranked New Jersey fourth in the nation for outbound migration. This week, United Van Lines and U-Haul have reported similar findings, underscoring the fact that more people are leaving the Garden State than entering.
According to U-Haul Growth Index data analyzing one-way customer transactions during the past year, New Jersey is the No. 48 growth state of 2024. The Garden State inches back one spot from the 2023 ranking. Meanwhile, South Carolina climbs three spots to dethrone Texas as the No. 1 growth state.
U-Haul customers coming to New Jersey accounted for 48.1% of all one-way traffic last year while out-of-state departures was 51.9%.
Looking at year-over-year changes, U-Haul arrivals into New Jersey fell 1% while departures remained the same in 2024.
U-Haul ranks growth states according to each state’s net gain (or loss) of one-way equipment from customer transactions in a calendar year. The U-Haul Growth Index is compiled from more than 2.5 million one-way U-Haul truck, trailer and U-Box® portable moving container transactions that occur annually across the U.S. and Canada.
New Jersey’s notable leading growth markets include (in alphabetical order): Bridgeton, Bridgewater Township, Cherry Hill Township, Franklin Township, Glassboro, Jackson Township, Jersey City, Lakewood Township, Mount Laurel, Ocean Grove, Vineland, Wildwood and Williamstown. Bayonne, Bloomfield and Hamilton Township are break-even markets.
North Carolina, Florida and Tennessee round out the top five growth states for 2024. It’s the same top five from 2023, but in a slightly different order.
California ranks 50th for the fifth year in a row with the largest net loss of one-way U-Haul customers. Oklahoma (+30), Indiana (+19) and Maine (+18) are the biggest risers YOY, while Colorado (-31), Nevada (-24), Wyoming (-22) and New Mexico (-21) saw the biggest slides.
Meanwhile, United Van Lines’ 48th Annual National Movers Study reported that, for the seventh consecutive year, more residents moved out of New Jersey than any other state, with the state having a 67% outbound migration. The top motivations for moves out of New Jersey were driven primarily from those looking to retire (22%) and wanting to be closer to family (20%), with more than 40% of movers aged 65 and older. Of those moving from New Jersey, 20% moved to the sunshine state of Florida.
West Virginia was the state with the highest percentage of inbound migration (66%), among states experiencing more than 250 moves with United Van Lines. The Mountain State jumped nine spots on this year’s inbound list, compared to the 2023 National Movers Study.
North American Van Lines annual report, which uses state-by-state movement to highlight trends in population movements within the US, found that New Jersey experienced a 44% population inbound rate vs. a 56% outbound rate.
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