Even with a tough housing market lingering into 2025, Americans continued to pack up and move last year, according to U-Haul’s latest migration report — and the results point to a familiar political and geographic divide.
U-Haul released its Growth Index, which tracks where customers are taking one-way rental trucks, trailers and moving containers across state lines. The rankings are based on net gains or losses of those one-way rentals, offering a snapshot of which states are attracting — or losing — residents.
U-Haul is careful to note that one-way rentals don’t perfectly measure population or economic growth, since not every rental reflects a permanent relocation. Still, the company says the data provides a useful look at how well states, metros and cities are drawing in and keeping residents.
In 2025, the numbers showed that Texas truly lived up to its reputation for size and opportunity. The Lone Star State ranked No. 1 on U-Haul’s growth index, posting the largest net gain of inbound one-way rentals. Texas had placed second the previous year, behind South Carolina, which slipped to fifth in the latest report.
The top 10 states on U-Haul’s 2025 Growth Index were:
Texas
Florida
North Carolina
Tennessee
South Carolina
Washington
Arizona
Idaho
Alabama
Georgia
U-Haul suggested that warm weather may be one factor drawing movers to many of these states, particularly those in the South and Sun Belt. That trend becomes even clearer when looking at the states at the bottom of the list.
Only one of the 10 lowest-ranked states avoids harsh winter weather, yet it continues to hemorrhage residents:
California
Illinois
New Jersey
New York
Massachusetts
Maryland
Pennsylvania
Ohio
Connecticut
Michigan
Liberal California, long synonymous with outbound migration, once again finished dead last on the index — just as it did in 2024. The Golden State’s ongoing exodus has become a persistent national conversation, fueled by high taxes, high housing costs and quality-of-life concerns.
U-Haul also highlighted a striking political pattern in the data. Seven of the 10 states with the strongest growth are led by Republican governors, and President Donald Trump carried nine of them in the 2024 election. By contrast, nine of the 10 states at the bottom of the list have Democratic governors, and seven voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris.
While U-Haul emphasized that most moves are driven by personal circumstances, politics and policy appear to play a role for many Americans weighing where to live.
Looking ahead, southern states could become even more attractive. Reports from Realtor.com and Redfin released before the new year suggested that housing markets in parts of the South may cool in the coming months, potentially easing affordability pressures.
That includes metros in Tennessee, Texas, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina — the same states dominating the top of U-Haul’s growth index.
Taken together, the data reinforces a trend that has defined the past several years: Americans continue voting with their feet, leaving high-cost, heavily regulated blue states for warmer, more affordable, and often more conservative parts of the country.
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