U-Haul Growth Index: Texas Back on Top as No. 1 Growth State of 2025

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U-Haul Growth Index: Texas Back on Top as No. 1 Growth State of 2025

2026-01-05 20:05 Last Updated At：01-06 13:20

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 5, 2026--

Texas and Florida lead the list of in-migration states on the U-Haul ® Growth Index analyzing one-way customer transactions during 2025, while California ranks last with the greatest out-migration number for the sixth consecutive year.

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Texas reclaims the title of No. 1 U-Haul growth state for the seventh time in 10 years. It climbs one spot from its previous ranking behind South Carolina, which slides four spots after being the leading growth state for 2024.

Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee follow Texas as prime destinations. It’s the same top five from 2024 and 2023, although in a different order.

The top 10 also includes Washington, Arizona, Idaho, Alabama and Georgia.

While California’s exodus of do-it-yourself movers was greater than any other state, it saw a smaller net loss in 2025 than in 2024. Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Illinois also rank among the bottom five on the index.

Growth formula

U-Haul ranks states by their net gain (or loss) of customers who rented a one-way truck, trailer or U-Box ® moving containers in one state and dropped off their equipment in another state.

The U-Haul Growth Index is compiled from well over 2.5 million annual one-way transactions across the U.S. and Canada.

While rankings may not correlate directly to population or economic growth, the U-Haul Growth Index is an effective gauge of how well states, metros and cities are attracting and maintaining residents. Find migration trends press releases and past reports at uhaul.com/about/migration.

Biggest movers

Oregon enjoys the largest year-over-year climb on the index, ranking 11th as a net-gain state in 2025 after ranking 34th as a net-loss state in 2024 — a jump of 23 positions. Other notable gainers include Mississippi (+18 spots), Colorado (+17), Nevada (+15), New Mexico (+15), Louisiana (+13) and Montana (+12).

Ohio has the largest YOY drop on the index, falling 29 positions to 43rd as a net-loss state in 2025 after ranking 14th as a net-gain state in 2024. Virginia (-19 spots), Indiana (-17), Iowa (-12), Delaware (-12) and Nebraska (-10) also see a double-digit drop in the rankings.

2025 U-Haul Growth States

Geography and politics

Sunshine and warm weather remain appealing to the moving public, based on the top 10 growth states. Eight of the top 10 states enjoy a southern geography. Six are in the Southeast, including four of the top five.

Conversely, eight of the bottom 10 states are northern states. Five of those out-migration markets are in the Northeast and three are in the Midwest.

Blue-to-red state migration, a hotly debated political topic that became more pronounced after the pandemic of 2020, continues to be a discernable trend.

Seven of the top 10 growth states currently feature Republican governors, and nine of those states went red in the last presidential election.

Conversely, nine of the bottom 10 growth states feature Democrat governors, and seven of those states went blue in the last presidential election.

Turning to Texas

U-Haul customers arriving in Texas accounted for 50.7% of all one-way traffic in and out of the state last year (49.3% leaving). Compared to 2024, customers coming to Texas rose 3% YOY while departures rose just 1% YOY.

Texas also ranked first on the U-Haul Growth Index from 2016-18 and 2021-23.

Florida, meanwhile, saw arrivals account for 50.6% of all one-way traffic in and out of the state last year (49.4% leaving) to climb two spots. Compared to 2024, customers coming to Florida rose 2% YOY while departures rose 1% YOY.

The Sunshine State has never ranked below fourth since U-Haul started ranking growth states in 2015.

Quotable

“We continue to find that life circumstances — marriage, children, a death in the family, college, jobs and other events — dictate the need for most moves,” said John “J.T.” Taylor, U-Haul International president.

“But other factors can be important to people who are looking to change their surroundings. In-migration states are often appealing to those customers.”

U-Haul is the authority on migration trends thanks to its expansive network that blankets all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. The geographical coverage from more than 24,000 rental locations provides a comprehensive overview of where people are moving like no one else in the industry.

Celebrating 80 years of moving families to a better life, U-Haul is a veteran-founded and family-run organization that benefits the environment through its shared-use business model.

U-Haul strives to ease the stress of a residential move by providing customers with one month of free self-storage services at a U-Haul-owned facility near their destination when they make a qualifying one-way equipment rental. Take advantage of the free month offer on the U-Haul app, uhaul.com, in store or by calling 1-800-GO-UHAUL.

About U-HAUL

Founded in 1945, U-Haul is the No. 1 choice of do-it-yourself movers with more than 24,000 rental locations across all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. The U-Haul app makes it easy for customers to use U-Haul Truck Share 24/7 to access trucks anytime through the self-dispatch and -return options on their smartphones with our patented Live Verify technology. Our customers' patronage has enabled the U-Haul fleet to grow to approximately 203,000 trucks, 137,400 trailers and 41,700 towing devices. U-Haul is the third largest self-storage operator in North America and offers 1,111,000 rentable storage units and 96.5 million square feet of self-storage space at owned and managed facilities. U-Haul is the top retailer of propane in the U.S. and the largest installer of permanent trailer hitches in the automotive aftermarket industry. Get the U-Haul app from theApp StoreorGoogle Play.

A union is suing Texas' education agency for investigating teachers over posts about Charlie Kirk

A Texas teachers union sued the state's education department on Tuesday, accusing it of an improper “wave of retaliation” against public school employees over their social media comments following the assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk.

The lawsuit says the free speech rights of teachers and other school staff were violated by the Texas Education Agency and its commissioner, Mike Morath, because they directed local school districts to document what the education agency described as “vile content” posted online after Kirk’s fatal shooting in September.

Despite calls for civility, some people who criticized Kirk after his death have drawn backlash from Republicans seeking to punish anyone they believe dishonored him.

The lawsuit says the education agency received more than 350 complaints about individual educators that could subject them to investigation. It cites the cases of four unnamed teachers — one in the Houston area and three in the San Antonio area — investigated over social media posts critical of Kirk or the reaction to his death.

The Houston-area teacher was fired while the San Antonio-area teachers remain under scrutiny, according to the lawsuit, which seeks a court order preventing current or future investigations.

The Texas American Federation of Teachers, which represents about 66,000 teachers and other school employees, filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Austin.

“A few well-placed Texas politicians and bureaucrats think it is good for their careers to trample on educators’ free speech rights,” Texas AFT President Zeph Capo said in a statement. “Meanwhile, educators and their families are afraid that they’ll lose everything: their livelihoods, their reputations, and their very purpose for being, which is to impart critical thinking.”

The education agency said it could not comment “on outstanding legal matters.”

The lawsuit comes less than month after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, both conservative Republicans, announced a partnership with Turning Point USA, the right-wing group Kirk founded, to create chapters on every high school campus in the state. The Associated Press sent emails seeking comment to the governor's office and Turning Point USA, which are not named as defendants in the suit.

Morath told school superintendents in a Sept. 12 letter that some social media posts could violate Texas educators' code of ethics and said “each instance will be thoroughly investigated.”

The lawsuit argues that the letter amounts to an overly broad state policy that allows for arbitrary and inconsistent enforcement. Federal courts have ruled that such vague policies can violate the First Amendment because they risk chilling protected speech.

According to the suit, the Houston-area teacher posted that “karma played a role” in Kirk’s death. The San Antonio-area teachers, the suit says, criticized the outrage over Kirk’s killing compared with reactions to other violence, challenged his positions on immigration, or criticized comments that Kirk's detractors say were racist, anti-immigrant or misogynist.

The lawsuit said none of the teachers' posts celebrated or promoted violence, which Morath said wouldn't be protected speech.

The U.S. Supreme Court has said government employees retain First Amendment protections when speaking as private citizens on matters of public concern, which must still be weighed against an employer’s interest in workplace order. In a 2006 decision, the court ruled that speech made as part of an employee’s official duties is not protected in the same way.

Kirk was an unabashed Christian conservative who often made provocative statements about politics, gender and race. He founded Turning Point USA in 2012 and built it into one of the country’s largest political organizations, shaping a generation of young people by taking his conservative message onto college campuses. He was shot during such an appearance at a university in Utah.