Allied Van Lines, Zillow data shows movers are seeking sun, surf, savings and the Lone Star State

CHICAGO – Florida continued to be a top destination for movers this year, as people sought warm weather, beaches, and abundant rental properties. That’s a key takeaway from the latest Magnet States Report, which analyzes moves by thousands of Allied Van Lines customers and home-value data from Zillow to provide insights into moving and housing trends in the midst of a COVID economy.

The top three destination states for people who moved with Allied in 2021 are:

1. Florida – 5,684 moves
2. Texas – 4,739 moves 
3. California – 3,253 moves 

For those who had work-related moves, Texas and California are the top destination states for the last five years, as both have strong economies and a large workforce.

Texas is projected to grow its population by more than five million residents by 2030 as an increasing number of companies like Tesla, Oracle, and Charles Schwab have moved operations to the Lone Star State according to the Austin Business Journal.

Texas is the ninth largest economy in the world with a lower cost of living and a business-friendly climate. California is attractive to many small businesses, according to Forbes, because of top talent, a stronger customer base, and great weather. Small businesses make up 99.8 percent of all businesses within California and employ 48.8% of the state’s workforce.

“In 2021, residents intensified the trend that began in 2020 of moving to more affordable neighborhoods,” said Zillow senior economist Jeff Tucker. “The combination of rapidly rising home values and more available remote-working jobs has pushed people to seek out parts of the country where their home-buying dollar goes further. But some of 2020s most popular destinations like Phoenix and Austin have gotten so expensive, so quickly that they are losing some of their appeal as affordable options.”

The average interstate mover in 2021 moved to a ZIP code where homes were about $35,800 cheaper than where they came from, amplifying a trend that first broke out in 2020 when movers began migrating from pricier to much more affordable locations.

The comparable average ZIP-level price decline in 2020 was about $29,500. Before the pandemic, people tended to move to ZIP codes with very similar average prices: the average ZIP-level price change was only a decrease of less than $7,500 in each year from 2016 to 2019.

The top destinations for net inbound moves in 2021 are mid-priced growing Sunbelt metro areas, while the top origins for net outbound moves are in places that are colder, pricier, or both.

The Dallas-Fort Worth metro area topped the rankings for the most net inbound moves in 2021, pulling in movers especially from pricey Los Angeles and chilly Chicago, as well as Phoenix.

Chicago tops the list of metro areas that originated the most net outbound moves, sending the most movers south and west to Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Los Angeles.

“By combining our moving trend data with housing data from Zillow we are able to provide more robust insights into how people are moving and the importance of housing affordability,” said Steven McKenna, vice president, and general manager for Allied. “Our team is proud to have kept America moving safely during the pandemic and we look forward to continued growth and innovation in the new year.”  

 For additional insights from the Allied and Zillow Magnet States Report, please visit https://www.allied.com/migration-map 

Methodology
Data was provided for all interstate moves that were loaded from January 1, 2016, to November 14, 2021. To maintain comparability with the time frame covered in 2021, only moves loaded by November 14 of each year were included. Home values were computed using the Zillow Home Value Index for the ZIP codes of origin and destination in the loading month for each move.