Florida ranks No. 2 among growth states for 2025

Florida saw more growth than any other state in the nation except Texas in 2025, according to U-Haul. The do-it-yourself moving company says Florida was No. 2 based on net gains from customers taking one-way equipment into and out of the state during the last calendar year.

The latest ranking represents a climb from the Sunshine State’s No. 4 spot in the 2024 list, according to a statement.

U-Haul customers arriving in Florida accounted for 50.6% of all one-way traffic in the state in the last calendar year, while 49.4% of traffic was leaving the state. Compared with 2024, U-Haul customers coming to Florida increased 2% year-over-year in 2025, while those leaving the state rose 1%.

“We see a lot of people moving here from the Northeast,” U-Haul Area District Vice President of South Florida Mario Martinez says in a statement. Families as well as retirees are drawn to the state for its weather, lifestyle, employment, schools and lack of state income tax, according to Martinez, who says: “It’s a melting pot of people here.”

Large populations are migrating to Florida from the Midwest, Canada, North Carolina and Georgia as well, according to U-Haul Local President Chad Rome.

Florida has eight of the top 10 cities in the country for growth, Rome says: No. 1 is Ocala, with North Port, Kissimmee, Clermont, Fort Lauderdale, St. Augustine, Daytona Beach and Panama City also ranking in the top 10 nationally, according to Rome. North Fort Myers, Sarasota, Leesburg and St. Cloud made it into the top 20.

“We … have large companies making strategic decisions to come into the state, and a lot of that is based on the tax structure we have here in Florida,” says Rome, who mentions Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, Lockheed Martin and Blue Origin. He says businesses are drawn to the diverse workforce and access to markets. “We have a very business-friendly environment,” Rome says, noting there is also a “thriving tech ecosystem” growing in Miami, Orlando and Tampa.

These are among the “notable growth markets” on the Gulf Coast, according to the statement from U-Haul: Bradenton, Brandon, Davenport, Haines City, Lakeland, North Fort Myers, North Port, Port Charlotte, Sarasota and Winter Haven.

Florida has been in the top four U-Haul growth states since the moving company began its rankings in 2015, according to the statement. It was also No. 2 from 2021 to 2023 and was No. 1 in 2019.

“We see continued growth in the state of Florida,” Rome says. “Florida will continue to flourish, and we don’t see any slowing down in sight.”

At the bottom of U-Haul’s 2025 list of growth states is California, which had the largest net loss of one-way U-Haul customers. Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts were also among the bottom five on the top 50 list.

U-Haul compiles its growth index from more than 2.5 million annual one-way transactions across the United States and Canada. It ranks states by their net gain or loss based on customers who rented a one-way truck, trailer or U-Box moving container in one state and dropped the equipment off in another state. In 2024, South Carolina was the No. 1 growth state.