The Akron Legal News

Survey finds more people moving into Ohio

BRANDON KLEIN
Special to the Legal News
Published: January 17, 2019

Ohio ranked as the 15th best growth state last year, up from its previous ranking of 34th, according to U-Haul's data analysis of U.S. migration trends for 2018.

The report examines the volume of trucks entering and leaving each state, providing a way to gauge how well states attract and maintain residents.

More than 2 million one-way U-Haul truck sharing transactions occur annually.

Texas and Florida ranked first and second, respectively, for the third year in a row.

South Carolina moved up a rank to third place, followed by Utah, Idaho, Maryland, Vermont, Tennessee, New Hampshire and Maine.

"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. Texas is gaining more residents than any other state. I think it is the most desirable state in which to live. Obviously, many U-Haul truck-sharing customers agree with me."

One-way arrivals of U-Haul trucks were up 5 percent in the Lone Star state compared with the state's 2017 numbers, while arrivals accounted for 50.2 percent of all one-way U-Haul traffic in Texas to keep it the top state to have net total of do-it-yourself movers.

The Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin-Round Rock metropolitan areas continued to see some of the largest influxes of U-Haul traffic in Texas.

"Since Houston is booming, surrounding cities are seeing growth as well," noted Robert Abidin, U-Haul Company of Northeast Houston president. "Spring is home to the new ExxonMobil campus, which is bringing thousands of jobs to the area. The oil and gas industry brings people from all over the world to Texas."

Data for Ohio was not available.

Illinois ranked last, down a ranking from the previous year, followed by Michigan, California, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Pennslyvania, New Jersey, Alabama and Iowa.

In the Midwest, Ohio is the third highest growth state behind Missouri and Wisconsin ranked 12th and 13th, respectively, nationwide.

Nebraska would come in fourth as its ranked 18th in the nation, followed by Indiana (26th), South Dakota (27th), Kansas (32nd), North Dakota (36th) and Minnesota (37th).

Iowa, Michigan and Illinois would round out the bottom in the region as they were in the bottom 10.

Additionally, U-Haul released the top 25 growing cities but none of them was in Ohio.

The top 10 were Sacramento, Calif., Spring, Texas, Manhattan, N.Y.; Harrisburg, P.A., Grand Rapids, Mich., San Francisco, Calif., Greenville, S.C., Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Madison, Wis., Kissimmee, Fla.

"(The Sacramento) market is an attractive option for those who have been priced out of the Bay Area," stated Aaron Anderson, U-Haul Co. of East Sacramento president. "There has been out-migration from parts of the Bay Area in recent years, but many movers are remaining in-state because they can find affordability in Sacramento and Roseville. Commuters can be 90 minutes from their jobs and enjoy close-knit communities."

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