Texas and Florida at the top of U-Haul’s list of ‘growth’ states for third straight year

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – U-Haul said Texas and Florida finished at the top of their Growth Index list for 2023 Tuesday.

Florida’s high ranking has occurred for three consecutive years, U-Haul said.

“While one-way transactions in 2023 remained below the record-breaking levels we witnessed immediately following the pandemic, we continued to see many of the same geographical trends from U-Haul customers moving between states,” said John Taylor, U-Haul International president.

A U.S. Census release from late 2023 also showed Texas adding the most people, over 473,000, in 2023, with Florida coming in second at over 365,000.

Taylor said there is still strong growth to southeastern and southwestern states, with demand high for one-way equipment to those regions.

Behind Florida was North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Idaho, Washington, Arizona, Colorado and Virginia.

California placed last, preceded by Massachusetts, Illinois, New Jersey, Michigan, Louisiana, Maryland and New York.

U-Haul said the list is not directly reflective of total population and economic trends, but said it can help gauge how areas of the U.S. are maintaining or attracting new residents.

Florida’s second place ranking to California’s 50th comes as Gov. Ron DeSantis had debated California Gov. Gavin Newsom in late 2023.

DeSantis and Newsom trade jabs in one-on-one debate

“[Newsom] is the first governor to lose population,” DeSantis said at the November debate. “They actually, at one point, ran out of U-Hauls in the state of California because so many people were leaving.”

“In Florida we showed that conservative principles work,” he said. “This country must choose freedom over failure.”

Newsom defended his record as governor of his west coast state, arguing that California has more people coming from Florida to his state than there were Californians coming to the Sunshine state.

“We dominate, number one manufacturing state,” Newsom said. “We dominate in two-way trade, in research and development, access to innovation, more scientists, more researchers, more engineers, more Nobel laureates in the state of California then any other state in the nation.”