Illinois among top states for outbound moves in 2023

(The Center Square) – A new report shows that Illinois was among the top states in the country for outbound moves last year.

U-Haul’s 2023 Growth Index report, released on Tuesday, is calculated by comparing the net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks arriving in a state against the net gain of trucks departing that state.

Only California and Massachusetts ranked lower than Illinois for outbound moves.

“While one-way transactions in 2023 remained below the record breaking levels we witnessed immediately following the pandemic, we continued to see many of the same geographical trends from U-Haul customers moving between states,” U-Haul International President John Taylor said in a statement.

According to U-Haul, movers preferred destinations in the southeast and southwest regions of the United States in 2023. Texas was deemed U-Haul’s most popular state for migration for the second consecutive year and sixth time in eight years.

Cory Hall, U-Haul district vice president, said people and companies are moving to Texas for a much friendlier business climate.

“The lower cost of living, taxes, for those companies obviously is a huge investment for them,” Hall said. “For the employees moving with them, obviously it is a pay increase because you’re not paying state income taxes on top of that and your property taxes are substantially lower here than some of these larger cities.”

The latest report is more proof that people continue to flee the Land of Lincoln. Illinois has lost 549,000 people in the past decade when adding up the annual population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to U-Haul, behind Texas, the other states people are moving to include Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The report notes that while migration trends do not correlate directly to population or economic growth, the U-Haul Growth Index is “an effective gauge of how well states and cities are attracting and maintaining residents.”