The line of moving trucks fleeing California and New York to Texas and Florida is a well-known fact, but the data from U-Haul put South Carolina atop the list for the first time ever.
After The Palmetto State moved up from fourth place last year, the second- to fifth-place states are Texas, North Carolina, Florida and Tennessee.
The rearrangement that put South Carolina on top also dropped Texas from a previous No. 1 spot and bumped Florida to fourth place from No. 2. Tennessee’s status remained the same in No. 5.
The annual report, known as the U-Haul Growth Index, is compiled from the company's 2 million-plus transactions for its famous orange-and-white trucks, trailers, and containers.
U-Haul’s international president, John Taylor, said last year’s state-to-state moving continues a migration to states in the Southeast and the Southwest, since Arizona was in the No. 6 spot.
Families say they are weighing their cost of living, job opportunities, and quality of life, Taylor said.
Oran Smith, a senior fellow at the Palmetto Promise Institute, tells AFN there are numerous reasons for the "influx of folks" moving to South Carolina.
"We have a culture that respects the free market and embraces the importance of religious faith," he told AFN. "We also have some of the lowest residential property taxes in the country."
Another source of South Carolina citizens is out-of-state college students who graduate and remain in the state. Often their parents and grandparents make the move, too, he said.
Smith is a co-founder of the Institute that works for low taxes, affordable energy, economic freedom, and school choice, among other issues.
Jonathan Williams, chief economist at the American Legislative Exchange Council, says the U-Haul report can be boiled down to states that are creating economic opportunity and a promise of a better life.
“It's as simple as that,” he tells AFN. “The states that have lower taxes, and more common-sense regulation on businesses, and are creating the new jobs out there, are the ones that are magnets for new individuals moving in."
Another factor many families are considering are states that have embraced the school choice movement, Williams says. That helps families that want to find a private school, or homeschool their children, after they move.
Among the state's at the bottom of the U-Haul report, they are California (50), Massachusetts (49), New Jersey (48), New York (47), and Pennsylvania (46).
Editor's Note: This story has been updated with comments from Oran Smith of the Palmetto Promise Institute.
