What States Are Americans Moving To or Fleeing From?

United Van Lines does an annual assessment of the percentage of households moving to and from each of the states and Washington, DC.  It is the largest mover in the USA.  Overall, the general story of which states are most desirable and which are least desirable for 2014 is told in this map of the USA:

The ten most desirable states with the largest percentage of households moving to them are:

Oregon                       66.4% Inbound
South Carolina           61.4%
North Carolina           60.5%
Vermont                     59.4%
Florida                        58.9%
Nevada                       57.3%
Texas                          57.0%
District of Columbia  57.0%
Oklahoma                  56.8%
Idaho                         55.5%
Colorado                   55.1%

Nebraska, Arizona, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Wyoming, Delaware,  and South Dakota all had slightly more households moving in than moving out in 2014 and are listed in order.  Tennessee had 50.0% moving in and 50.0% moving out.  The rest of the states were losers in 2014.

The worst losers are:

New Jersey               64.9% Outbound
New York                 64.1%
Illinois                      63.4%
North Dakota           60.5%
West Virginia           60.1%
Ohio                         59.0%
Kansas                     58.2%
New Mexico            57.4%
Pennsylvania           56.8%
Connecticut             56.7%
Massachusetts         56.7%
Utah                        56.0%
Virginia                   55.5%
Michigan                 55.4%
Mississippi              55.2%
Kentucky                 55.0%

[Of these states, it should be noted that North Dakota and Utah were among the most stellar states in creating jobs over the entire time span from December 2007 to December 2014.  The loss of jobs in North Dakota in 2014 is likely due to the drop in the price of oil in the later part of that year.  Comment added on 20 Feb 2015.]  The remaining minor losing states are listed from worst to not so bad -- Minnesota, Indiana, Wisconsin, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Iowa, Montana, Alabama, Arkansas, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.

It should be noted that the United Van Lines survey is more accurate with respect to established and larger wealth households than with young people who may live with few furnishings in small apartments in major cities, such as Manhattan.

The highest fraction of households moving out for retirement reasons was the Northeast, with more than one out of four moving for retirement.  The highest fraction moving in for retirement was nearly one out of three moves into the Mountain States.

DC remains a popular moving destination due to the growth of the federal government, but the good news is that while from 2008 to 2012 it was number one, in 2013 it fell to #4, and in 2014 it fell further to #7.

With the exception of Delaware and DC, the entire Northeast from Virginia to Maine lost households due to more outbound moves than inbound moves.  The Midwest states from Ohio and West Virginia to Minnesota and Iowa also all lost population.  I believe these areas are being harmed by the anti-growth and anti-business attitudes and governmental policies particularly prevalent in these areas.  They are also harmed by insufficient warming in those areas as more and more people take the opportunity to move to areas with warmer climates.  How odd that federal government policy wishes to maintain colder temperatures in these areas, as do Progressive Elitists, yet most people voting with their feet seek warmer climates.  Apparently, the real catastrophe of warmer climates is that people view them as desirable!