DC Tops List of Nation’s Most Popular Cities to Move to

While the trend seems to be that more people are moving away from the Northeast, DC
leads a new list of the states with the most “inbound” migration, ranking number one
over Oregon, Nevada, North Carolina, and South Carolina, according to the moving company
United Van Lines.

“The Northeast region leads the United States in outbound migration,” reads the study
of household moves handled by United in 2012 in the 48 contiguous states and DC. The
states with the most people moving away from them, according to United, are New Jersey,
Illinois, West Virginia, New York, and New Mexico.

Michael Stoll, a University of California economist who analyzed the study, says it
shows “the movement of people from the Frost Belt to the Sunbelt states in the South
and West.” As for the popularity of DC, Oregon, and the Carolinas, he says they may
be attractive “because of lower housing costs, more temperate climate, [and] diversified
growing economies, as well as maturing manufacturing bases and high technology clusters.”

This is the fifth year in a row that DC has topped the United Van Lines migration
list.

Carol Ross Joynt