What are Americans’ reasons for moving?

In the year 2021, there were around 35 million official address changes in the US. This statistic includes both permanent and temporary address changes. Now, moving trends are not anything new. Each year, a certain number of Americans decide to change their home location for multiple different reasons. In this article, we are going to discuss the Americans’ reasons for moving. More importantly, we are going to talk about some other aspects of this trend that should matter. There is a high chance that you saw moving trucks in your neighborhood lately. If not, then you are the one who was moving. Due to the large portion of Americans constantly changing their homes, we could separate them into those two groups: The ones that were moving, and the ones that were seeing moving trucks in their neighborhood. Either way, a reliable moving support can be obtained through the Best Cross Country Movers website. Luckily, there are ways to make the entire move smoother.

Before we discuss the Americans’ reasons for moving

According to certain studies that were done recently, it shows that Americans move much more often than any other people in the world. Because of that, we feel like this should be more than just the reasons why people are moving. For example, every one in four Americans (24%) was moving in the past four years. This is a big leap from the 8% the rest of the world averages. Although we are going to go through those reasons, we also want to touch on another important subject. That subject is the migration rates of Americans. It is one thing to know why many Americans are moving, but another when you combine it with where they move to or move from. Moreover, while the average European moves around 4 times in its lifetime, the average American moves 11 times. So, why do Americans call residential moving services the most?

The migration rates in the US

Instead of focusing on the entire world, today we are going to talk only about moving within the borders of the US. So, to help you understand the process much better, we are going to share useful information about where people are moving to and from. Generally speaking, this will give us a general idea as to where people in the US tend to move to the most. Consequently, we will also learn what state people leave the most.

Once we do know that, we will be able to foresee the reasonings behind them leaving that state. Because these are patterns we can follow, they are also a great indicator of how much is the cost of cross-country moving. The migration routes often change in the US. However, there are several states that are on the lists for a couple of years now.

What states are people leaving the most?

• Illinois 69%
• California 66%
• New Jersey 64%
• Michigan 61%
• New York 61%

These five states experienced the highest outbound migration rate in the US in the past year. Sadly, all five of these states are regular on the highest outbound migration rate list for a couple of years now. Some of the main reasons why people are leaving these states are the cost of living, the housing market, and the overall crowdedness of the states. If we were to look at it from a different perspective, we could say that a lot of young people move to these states to pursue their careers. Once they do that, they aim to settle down and create a family. Because of this, best cross country movers in Illinois help relocate Illinois residents to smaller, more affordable communities.

Which states are people moving to the most?

• South Carolina 66%
• Idaho 65%
• Tennessee 65%
• North Carolina 62%
• Florida 59%

To prove our point as to why people contact best cross country movers in South Carolina and move there; South Carolina has one of the most affordable lifestyles in the US. Namely, a single dollar in South Carolina is worth $1.11. This means that you can spend 11 cents extra in South Carolina for every dollar you would spend anywhere else. On top of that, the median home value is $171.000. This is around $50.000 cheaper than the American average home price. Aside from these states, we could also include Arizona and Texas into the list. These two states have been experiencing large migration inbound rates in the past 10 years now.

What are the Americans’ reasons for moving?

For example, 20% more Americans were moving in 2021 than in 2020. Many people assume that the coronavirus pandemic has a lot to do with it. Although somewhat true, this is not the real reason why people are moving. The pandemic surely did have a part to play in this trend, we cannot say otherwise. However, we cannot say that it did directly impact the reasons for moving from the current home of many Americans. To put things into perspective, some of the main reasons why people are moving are:

• Cost of living
• Being closer to family/friends
• In pursuit of a more flexible career or job
• Looking for a higher/better education
• Expensive housing

These are just some of the reasons why many Americans are leaving their current homes. Of course, your particular reason can vary depending on the situation you are in.

The cost of living

The cost of living is by far one of the most important reasons people were moving from their homes lately. For example, states like New Jersey, New York, Illinois, and California have very high tax rates. This, on top of very expensive housing, equals a high cost of living. Now, although, technically, taxes are not the direct reason people are moving, they contribute a lot.

The cost of living we are talking about is a combination of all the basic expenses one should expect when moving into an area. Unfortunately, the five states we mentioned above have a very high cost of living. On top of it all, the main reason people were calling best cross country movers in New York was the density of the population in the cities. All of these states share something in common – They are all homes to very large metropolis cities.

Living in a less expensive home is one of the Americans’ reasons for moving

It is very important where you live. Moreover, it is very important to control your finances wherever you live. Now, some states allow you to control your finances more than others do. This eventually reflects on the housing market. More importantly, the more you pay for your home, the more you will need to maintain it.

Many young professionals opt for renting instead of owning their homes. After all, they are at the beginning of their career, so it should not surprise us. However, once we take a look at the housing costs of the states with the high outbound migration, we can see why people are keen on leaving them. Living in New York City, for example, is great. However, paying for that life is not so easy. So, if you want to move due to housing, consider hiring best cross country movers in Idaho.

Americans want to spend time closer to their families

This is probably one of the best ways to explain our phrase that “the pandemic did not have a direct impact, but indirect one”. Namely, a lot of Americans decided that it is best that they move closer to their families. The coronavirus pandemic had us all locked up for a while, with no ways of communicating with our family other than video chatting.

Because of that, many Americans decided that now is the time to move closer to the family. On top of everything, remote work, which has proven useful by the pandemic, allows much more flexibility. Now, you can contact best cross country movers in Florida and move there, but still work for your job in Maryland, for example. This flexibility to work outside of our office city allowed many Americans to move closer to the ones they love in the past year.

It is all about more space

Another one of the Americans’ reasons for moving is also the space they live in. Namely, many people started to look for houses instead of apartments. Primarily, houses are usually much larger than apartments. Secondly, houses usually come with front or back yard, driveway, porches, gardens, etc. Basically, Americans want to feel cozy in a spacious home.

Those that desire larger spaces usually move to Idaho, New Mexico, and even Maine. These are all the least-populated states in the US. Consequently, people that were listing this as their main reason were leaving states that have a high population density. The spacious home purchase is a trend that started in 2021 but continues at full force in 2022. Finally, because a lot of people started working from home, home offices became a necessity. In addition, most people that want to expand their family will also aim for a larger home.

Leaving the crowds of bustling cities

A closer examination of the migration trends in the past two years shows that the majority of Americans want to move away from bustling cities. Now, some of them are moving to more rural, less-populated areas, while others just want to get out of the city center. Generally speaking, many Americans just want to leave the rush of the big cities. For example, many Californians hire best cross country movers in California to relocate to other states.

Because of that, many Americans decided to move to either more rural areas or into the city suburbs. On the other hand, the statistics also show that many people that left urban city centers did not leave the state. This can help us understand that suburban living becomes more popular. If you are looking for a perfect example: Home sales in the NYC suburbs have seen a dramatic increase in the past two years.

Americans’ reasons for moving can, and will, vary

We cannot pinpoint a single reason as to why people in America are moving. In many cases, as with many years behind us, some of the main factors are the ones we were just talking about. However, it comes without saying that every individual will have different reasons as to why they are moving. What is also important to note is that all age groups of Americans experienced these relocations from 2020 until today. What we can segment, for instance, is age groups with reasons to why they are moving. So, we can see a lot of young professionals moving to the south and west of the country. Consequently, many retirees tend to move to the state of Florida, South Carolina, or Arizona.

The impact of the pandemic

To conclude our list of Americans’ reasons for moving we have to mention the coronavirus pandemic. Although not directly, COVID-19 has impacted these reasons in a different way. So, instead of moving due to covid, many people move because covid made it harder to live in densely populated areas. Consequently, because many people started working from home, home offices became a norm. This is yet another indirect consequence of COVID. The only real consequence of COVID-19 could maybe be seen in California. For example, around 50.000 Californians decide to leave the state for Texas each year. One of the main reasons best cross country movers in Texas have so much work is because California has much stricter regulations for COVID than Texas does. This is the only visible impact we could say coronavirus had on the migration trends of Americans.