U-Haul growth states are ranked by their net gain or loss of U-Haul customers over the past year. The report gauges how well states and cities are attracting and maintaining residents, with Illinois coming in 45th place. Illinois’ place on the list grew three spots from No. 48 in the 2023 report.  

Texas District Vice President Matt Merrill said he sees a steady flow of Illinoisans into the Lone State State, which ranked second in the nation in the report.

“Nationally, we see a lot of customers moving out of our Blue states coming down to the south to the Red states,” said Merrill. “A lot of that has to do with pro-business and less government control. In Texas specifically, we see a lot of customers moving here from Illinois and the Chicago market.”

District VP Jason Hardin said there is a reason South Carolina and North Carolina both ranked in the top three. 

“They’re moving here because of jobs,” said Hardin. “We have a lot of tech coming in, manufacturing, such as Boeing, Volvo, BMW.” 

Meanwhile, Illinois’ unemployment rate, at 5.3%, is one of the highest in the country. 

According to U-Haul, South Carolina, Texas, North Carolina, Florida and Tennessee were the top five growth states for the year. Texas has ranked first or second among U-Haul Growth States each year since 2016. Florida has been fourth or higher every year since 2015.  

“Migration to the Southeast and Southwest continues as families gauge their cost of living, job opportunities, quality of life and other factors that go into relocating to a new state,” said John “J.T.” Taylor, U-Haul International president.