Fewer Americans are moving, but these are the states they’re relocating to

With high home prices and rising interest rates hitting the 2024 housing market, many homeowners chose to “lock in“ to their homes. But those who decided to move went to states you might not have guessed — and for reasons you might not expect.

Leading national moving company Atlas Van Lines conducted two surveys to analyze interstate moving trends in 2024. The 2024 Migration Patterns Study directly measured relocation trends between Nov. 1, 2023, and Oct. 31, 2024. Atlas compiled this data by analyzing an area’s total number of mover shipments. “Outbound states“ had more people moving out, while “inbound states“ received more incoming residents. “Balanced states“ had a relatively even number of people moving in and out.

The second survey — conducted in August — involved 1,135 people who moved in the past three years to gauge their reasons for migrating.

“In past years, the Migration Patterns Study told us where Atlas customers moved, but not necessarily why,” Atlas Van Lines president and chief operating officer Ryan McConnell said in the report. “Atlas’ 2024 study and survey data provides insight into why some people moved where they did — or where they didn’t.”

This year’s analysis shows the lowest number of outbound states in five years — a likely impact of the mortgage rate lock-in effect. Only five states made the outbound list this year — Louisiana, California, Illinois, South Dakota and New York.

California is a somewhat familiar source of residents fleeing to avoid high living expenses. A report released by StorageCafe in November found that California residents were migrating to Arizona to find lower housing expenses. But Atlas said that California had been classified as a balanced state in the past few years, marking an unusual change this year.

“[California’s] return to the outbound list, when so many other states are balanced, is noteworthy,” Atlas said. Meanwhile, Illinois and New York — two of the three most expensive states — have consistently been on the outbound list for the past five years.

Inbound states vastly outnumbered their outbound counterparts. Atlas found that Arkansas, Rhode Island and North Carolina were the top-ranked states for inbound movers in 2024. About 65% of all shipments for Arkansas were inbound. The survey also noted that North Carolina has consistently stayed on the outbound list for more than a decade.

According to Redfin, the median sale price for homes in Arkansas, Rhode Island and North Carolina are $259,200, $519,700 and $375,800, respectively. Arkansas is well below the U.S. median sale price of $434,720. Oddly enough, low prices were not the main motivation for inbound residents. In fact, only 10% of respondents said they moved for affordability reasons, according to Atlas.

Employment was cited as the top reason for moving to inbound-heavy states. About one-third of movers relocated to find new work. Atlas attributes this to changing workplace demands, specifically “companies’ increasing mandates requiring employees to return to the office full-time.” For example, Arkansas is home to Walmart, a franchise that recently enforced a return-to-office mandate for corporate employees.

About 25% of respondents moved to be closer to family and friends. And another one-third cited motivations such as weather, safety or retirement.