While one potential negative sign looms, Florida remains a population boom state

The number of people moving into Florida, a net positive, has slowed, according to a report — but so too has the number of people leaving.


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The Florida migration parade keeps on marching forward. 

The latest news: A pair of leading moving companies cite the Sunshine State as a top state people are moving to nationwide. 

One report, the annual U-Haul Growth Index, counts four Florida cities among the top 25 across the country for one-way destinations, including North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, at No. 6, and Lakeland, at No. 21. Ocala is No. 1, with a 6% year-over-year increase in arrivals against a 1% increase in departures. The Palm Bay-Melbourne region is No. 4.

Florida, overall, is the No. 2 state for in-migration in U-Haul trucks and vans, behind Texas and ahead of South Carolina. It’s the second year in a row Florida is in the No. 2 slot and the seventh consecutive year as a top-three in-migration state, according to a statement. 

In addition, 2022 marks the third consecutive year a Florida city topped the U-Haul list. The Kissimmee-St. Cloud MSA was No. 1 in 2021, the release states; the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton was No. 1 in 2020. (The Greater Sarasota-Bradenton market was No. 4 in 2021.) The Sacramento-Roseville, California, area is No. 2 on the 2022 list, behind Ocala, while Madison, Wisconsin, is No. 3. 

The U-Haul Growth Index is compiled from the net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks arriving in a city or state versus departing from that city or state in a calendar year. Migration trends data is compiled from more than 2 million one-way U-Haul truck transactions that occur annually across the U.S. and Canada.

One notable data point in the U-Haul report is a sign Florida could be losing its sought-after luster: People arriving in Florida in one-way U-Haul trucks dropped 10% in 2022 from 2021, the report found. On the flip side, people already here don’t want to leave, as departures fell nearly 11% in 2022 from 2021.  

The reasons officials cite for Florida’s prowess in attracting new people remains the same, coming down, in a word, to climate. That’s not just the sunshine but in tax climate, a business-friendly climate and more. “You’re going to have a better employment rate in Florida than anywhere in the U.S. There are plenty of job opportunities, and both businesses and residents find the tax benefits here very attractive,” U-Haul Co. of Gainesville President Brady Rome says in the statement. “When you have warm weather, beaches and amusement parks, there’s a lot of tourism. We see an influx of people every year from tourism. Many visitors choose to move here permanently.”

A United Van Lines report on the top 10 places its customers moved to in 2021, meanwhile, includes three Florida locales: Punta Gorda at No. 5,  Sarasota-Bradenton at No. 7 and Fort Myers-Cape Coral at No. 10.

 

author

Mark Gordon

Mark Gordon is the managing editor of the Business Observer. He has worked for the Business Observer since 2005. He previously worked for newspapers and magazines in upstate New York, suburban Philadelphia and Jacksonville.

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