New York City and Chicago might be amazing cities, but people aren't exactly flocking to live in their respective states. A new study from moving company United Van Lines shows that residents moved out of New Jersey, New York and Illinois at higher rates than any other state in 2015, while people flocked to the South and West like nobody's business.
The study, which the company has conducted for the past 39 years, tracks state-to-state migration patterns by looking at the number of moves into or out of a given state by United Van Lines' customers. Naturally, New Jersey topped the list. Of the United Vans customers moving into or out of the state, the balance was tilted heavily in favor of the deserters, with 67 percent choosing to get the hell out of there. New York had the second-highest rate of outbound moves at 65 percent, and Illinois was ranked third with 65 percent. With rent in New York City at astronomical levels and Illinois in the midst of one of the worst public pension crises...well, ever, it's not shocking that people are eager to leave the states and make a home elsewhere.
Oregon topped the list as the most attractive state for movers for the third consecutive year (the fact that they don't have any sales tax and recently legalized cannabis might have something to do with that). South Carolina, Vermont, Idaho and North Carolina rounded out the top five states for inbound movers last year. California had a close to even split of incoming and outgoing residents—we'll assume that everyone's just holding their breath and hoping that the whole drought thing sorts itself out.