TRG | The Bottom Line – 1/3

Since the pandemic, TRG has focused on several key areas to track population movements throughout the U.S. One of those data sets is U-Haul’s Growth Index, which ranks states by their net gain or loss of one-way movers. The U-Haul Growth Index tracks 2.5MM+ one-way U-Haul truck, trailer and U-Box moving container transactions in any given year. The 2024 data is out, and a trend that remains pervasive is the move to the Southeast (SE) and Southwest (SW), with the top 5 state gainers all SE/SW-focused states (SC, TX, NC, FL, TN). South Carolina climbed three spots to #1, unseating Texas (which had ranked #1 for the previous three years). According to U-Haul, 51.7% of all South Carolina transactions were arrivals. Texas still remains a hot state, placing #1 or #2 since 2016, and Florida is no slacker, ranking #4 or higher since 2015. A notable (and consistent) laggard remains California, ranking #50 for the second year in a row. Finally, the biggest YOY gainers in 2024 were Oklahoma (+30), Indiana (+19), and Maine (+18), while laggards had been a handful of “hot” states in recent years, including Colorado (-31), Nevada (-24), and Wyoming (-22).