California drew a last-place ranking last year in U-Haul’s annual measurement of interstate relocation momentum.
U-Haul ranks states by year-by-year changes in their net flow of its rental vans — inbound trips minus outbound. Trends in U-Haul’s do-it-yourself moves can be seen as a benchmark of the popularity of states for households with relatively modest incomes.
U-Haul, which doesn’t disclose the number of moves it handles, said 49.6 percent of its California interstate trips last year were folks driving to the state.
California’s lean toward departures was the result of arrivals growing by 4 percent vs. 2016 while exiting trips surged by 5 percent. That gave California the worst score in its “growth states” ranking. Texas, Florida, Arkansas, South Carolina and Tennessee were the top five.
That’s the second-straight year California scored poorly. The state ranked next-to-last for “growth” in 2016. Arrivals fell by 1.2 percent as exits ran flat.
But in 2015, California was U-Haul’s No. 5 “growth state.” A 3.2 percent jump in inbound trips outpaced unchanged departures.
U-Haul’s ranking shows its negative statewide trends aren’t universal. Four California cities made U-Haul’s Top 25 “growth cities” list: Sacramento ranked sixth best in the nation; No. 13 was Redding; No. 17 San Francisco; and No. 23 Murrieta.
