The last few years caused many to rethink their lifestyle.
For some, this meant moving.
Volume and percentage of Americans who moved did reach its lowest number on record in 2021 — 26.4 million people, or 8.2% — but more people moved long distances, many for pandemic-related reasons.
And Illinois saw one of the largest net losses. This means more people moved out than in, over the past year.
HireAHelper.com’s 4th Annual Migration Report tracked 90,000 outbound and inbound moves across the country and surveyed Americans who had moved to get a better understanding of their state-to-state migration patterns.
Based on the report, 40% of Americans moved to a different county and 17% moved to a different state. The highest numbers since the early 2000s.
Americans left New Jersey (-54%), California (-49%) and Illinois (-42%) in record numbers. It seems logical to attribute this to cost of living and population density.
Naperville, Illinois ranked No. 2 in terms of “Moved Out” by ratio, reaching nearly -65%. Other Midwest cities to make the “Moved Out” list include Indianapolis, Indiana (-51.5%), Cleveland, Ohio (-50.6%) and Wichita, Kansas (-48.6%).
Destination-wise, Arkansas ranked No. 1 for “Moved In” by ratio, according to the report, reaching 44%; Florida ranked No. 1 by volume — 5.8%. Florida cities made up half of the “Moved In” Top 10 list.
Why did people move? Of course, HireAHelper.com listed COVID-19 as one of the biggest reasons.
One in five people who said they moved due to COVID did so because they couldn’t afford their housing. It was also found that 37% of all COVID-affected moves were due to the flexibility of remote work, 16% moved closer to family, and 16% did not feel safe in their area due to COVID spread, to name a few reasons.
Not all moves were pandemic-related, though.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, housing accounted for nearly half of all moves in America. This means buying a home or moving somewhere better or cheaper. Not to mention, 25% of moves happened for family reasons, like marriages or divorces, 16% of moves were work-related and the remaining 14% accounts for all other reasons.
