Texas No. 1 Growth State for 2017

As a leading economic indicator of regional growth, Texas continued its reign as America’s No. 1 Growth State during 2017, according to U-Haul data analyzing the past year’s U.S. migration trends.

Year-over-year arrivals of one-way U-Haul truck rentals rose 1 percent while departures climbed 3 percent from Texas’s 2016 numbers. Some of the state’s increase in overall U-Haul transactions can likely be attributed to an active hurricane season.

Despite a larger year-over-year increase in departures, arriving trucks still accounted for 50.3 percent of all one-way U-Haul traffic in Texas to maintain its status as the top net-gain state. Texas secured the No. 1 growth ranking for 2016 after settling for the No. 39 spot for 2015.

Growth States are calculated by the net gain of one-way U-Haul truck rentals entering a state versus leaving a state during a calendar year. Migration trends data is compiled from more than 1.7 million one-way U-Haul truck rental transactions that occur annually.

Florida, Arkansas, South Carolina and Tennessee rounded out the top five, and North Carolina was seventh, continuing a strong growth movement in the Southeast. California overtook Illinois on the list as the biggest net-loss state.