Lone Star State Earns Bragging Rights as Leading Growth State of 2021

Migration to southern states continues to be magnified by the lingering pandemic, and no state netted more U-Haul customers during the last year than Texas. The Lone Star State earned bragging rights as the leading growth state of 2021, narrowly besting Florida for top honors, according to transactional data compiled for the annual U-Haul Growth Index.

Growth states are calculated by the net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks entering a state versus leaving that state in a calendar year. Migration trends data is compiled from more than 2 million one-way U-Haul truck customer transactions that occur annually.

Texas reclaims the number one growth state status it held from 2016 to 2018. It ranked second to Florida in 2019 and Tennessee in 2020.

“We see a lot of growth coming from the East and West Coast,” said Matt Merrill, U-Haul area district vice president of the Dallas Fort-Worth metroplex and West Texas. “A lot of people moving here from California (and) New York. We also see a lot of people coming in from the Chicago markets. I think that’s a lot due to the job growth – a lot of opportunity here. The cost of living here is much lower than those areas. Texas is open for business.”