Florida cities, for the seventh year in a row, are experiencing more growth than any other state in the U.S., according to a new report from U-Haul.
The top destination for movers in 2023 is the Palm Bay-Melbourne market according to U-Haul’s report published Wednesday that measures one-way movers in U-Haul equipment from last year. Last year, it was ranked fourth.
Over 54% of all one-way U-Haul traffic was arriving in Palm Bay-Melbourne, compared to just over 45% departing, the report said. U-Haul said it measured city growth by calculating net gain (or loss) of one-way equipment from customer transactions in 2023. Last year, over 2.5 million one-way transactions with U-Haul equipment were recorded.
The moving company said these migration trends – which lump neighboring cities together for data purposes – do not directly correlate to population or economic growth. Rather, it’s an effective way of seeing how states and cities are attracting and maintaining residents, according to the report.
“Growth in the Palm Bay-Melbourne area has been increasing at an explosive rate,” said Cal Conner, president of U-Haul of Eastern Florida. “The Space Coast has many companies investing in this region and creating jobs such as Embraer, SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and L3Harris Technologies. We have a low cost of living compared to many of the northern cities people have left. Add to that our fantastic year-round climate, and you can see why Palm Bay-Melbourne is such a desirable area to live.”
Ocala was ranked the No. 1 growth city in 2022, but slid into the No. 2 spot in 2023. There are seven Florida markets ranked in the top 25, including Sarasota-Bradenton, Kissimmee-St. Cloud and North Port, to name a few.
Here’s a look at the top 25 growth markets in 2023, according to U-Haul:
- Palm Bay, Melbourne, FL
- Ocala, FL
- Charleston-North Charleston, SC
- Sarasota-Bradenton, FL
- Austin, TX
- College Station-Bryan, TX
- Charlotte, NC
- Huntsville, AL
- Dallas, TX
- Myrtle Beach-North Myrtle Beach, SC
- Kissimmee-St. Cloud, FL
- Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL
- North Port, FL
- Boise, ID
- Wake Forest, NC
- Conroe, TX
- Knoxville, TN
- Surprise, AZ
- Auburn-Opelika, AL
- Lakeland, FL
- Murfreesboro, TN
- Wilmington, NC
- Queen Creek, AZ
- Henderson, NV
- Nampa, ID
U-Haul calculates growth cities by each city’s net gain (or loss) of one-way equipment from customer transactions in a calendar year. The U-Haul Growth Index is compiled from more than 2.5 million one-way U-Haul truck, trailer and U-Box® moving container transactions that occur annually across the U.S. and Canada. Neighboring cities in U-Haul markets are often packaged together for migration trends purposes.
