Wall Street Journal columnist Dan Henninger talks about large numbers of Americans migrating to southern and western states in search of economic opportunities.
With over 2 million one-way trips last year, the U-Haul Growth Index ranked Texas and Florida as the top two states to attract Americans in 2022.
Reaching the top spot for the fifth consecutive year since 2016, Lone Star State boasted over 30 million residents last year and has witnessed decades of steady population growth. .
California, the only other state with more than 30 million residents, ranked last in U-Haul’s growth index last year due to a surge in demand for trucks from the Golden State.
File photo: U-Haul moving truck parked nearby. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images/Getty Images)
Texas added about 470,000 people between July 2021 and July 2022, while California lost about 113,000, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
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Internal migration, meaning Americans moving within the state, accounted for approximately 231,000 of Texas’ population growth during that period, international migration accounted for 118,000, and natural increase accounted for a further 118,000 residents.
“Texas is great because it has a low cost of living, no state income tax, and deregulated energy costs,” said Robert Abidin, president of U-Haul Company in northeast Houston. We’re also home to all the major industries.Anything you’re looking for in Texas, you can find in Texas.”
File photo: Austin, Texas skyline. (iStock/iStock)
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For the second year in a row, Florida ranked second in the growth index.
South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia rounded out the top five states for growth in 2022, while New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois, and California all ranked in the bottom five.
