Americans are on the move. Freed up from offices, many people now work from home. Millions began the practice as the COVID-19 pandemic forced people from crowded places. Some companies have said their workers can permanently work remotely. This has triggered the migration of people from large coastal cities, which have expensive homes and high costs of living, to many cities inland that are less expensive and have higher “qualities of life.” This, in turn, has driven home prices higher in these areas. Homebuyers cannot get a break.
There is a divide between people who want to move close by and those who want to move long distances. Lending Tree recently examined this in a study titled “The States Homeowners Have Moved to — and Stayed in — During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The company reviewed mortgage purchase requests from March 1, 2020, through Sept. 21, 2021. It then looked at the buyer’s location and where they planned to move.
The state that the most people were moving from was New York, with 27% of people leaving the state. The authors observed that the place where the highest portion of these people was moving to was New Jersey.
Next on the list of the states that the most people are leaving was North Dakota at 23%. The state these residents are most likely to move to is Minnesota.
The state that the most people were “loyal to” was Texas, with only 7% of people moving out of state. The state these people were most likely to locate to was Florida.
Here are the 20 states people are least loyal to and the percentages of movers relocating out of state:
- New York (26.65%)
- North Dakota (22.67%)
- Hawaii (21.94%)
- Rhode Island (21.71%)
- Alaska (21.41%)
- Massachusetts (20.63%)
- New Hampshire (20.04%)
- Vermont (20.01%)
- Wyoming (19.82%)
- New Jersey (19.71%)
Click here to read about the 40 places young people are moving to.
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