The Long Haul
Texas keeps on trucking as No. 1 state for growth in U.S., says report
For the third year in a row, the Lone Star State is trucking into 2019 as the No. 1 Growth State in America. U-Haul, the preferred truck of college kids everywhere, released its annual report analyzing U.S. migration trends over the last year and proved that, once again, everyone is crazy about Texas.
To determine the biggest states for growth, the company used the more than two million one-way truck transactions reported by more than 21,000 U-Haul locations in 2018, and then calculated "the net gain" of trucks. Simplified, U-Haul analyzed the number of moving trucks that entered into a state, but did not leave.
"While migration trends do not correlate directly to population or economic growth, U-Haul growth data is an effective gauge of how well states and cities are attracting and maintaining residents," the company said in January 2 press release.
U-Haul saw a 5 percent increase in one-way trucks over 2017, with Austin-Round Rock, the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, and Houston among the state's top destinations.
"North Texas is truly bursting at the seams," stated Kevin Flanagan, U-Haul Company of Northwest Dallas president. "McKinney, Frisco, and the entire Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex has been growing substantially in recent years."
Joining Texas among the top growth states is Florida (2), South Carolina (3), Utah (4), and Idaho (5). According to U-Haul's report, trailing at the bottom with the least growth is Massachusetts (46), Louisiana (47), California (48), Michigan (49), and Illinois (50).
"I think [Texas] is the most desirable state in which to live," Flanagan unabashedly continued. "Obviously, many U-Haul truck-sharing customers agree with me."
