Utah ranks 9th in U.S. as relocation destination

Utah is one of the top 10 destinations for resettling, as Americans continue to move from parts of the Northeast and Midwest to the West and Southeast, according to an analysis of migration trends by the nation's largest mover.

Some 56 percent of the Beehive State's moves were inbound last year, ranking the state ninth for inbound migration, according to United Van Lines, which has been tracking moving trends since 1977.

The study of 227,254 moves handled by the company in 2006 in the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia was released Monday. It looked at all moves that involved either going to or leaving a state.

North Carolina had the highest inbound migration with 64 percent of moves going into the state. Oregon was second with 62.5 percent, followed by South Carolina (60.6), Nevada (59.9) and Idaho (59.3).

At the other end, Michigan and North Dakota tied for the most outbound migration. Nearly two-thirds of all moves in both states — 66 percent — were heading out.

States with the biggest percentage of moves leaving the state were all from the East or Midwest except for Louisiana, still feeling the impact of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Louisiana had the seventh-highest outbound migration with 56.4 percent of shipments leaving the state.

One of the few Western states with outbound migration continued to be California, though the outbound percentage (52.4) was the lowest in four years.

California has been Utah's biggest source for domestic inbound migration, especially as foreign immigrants who arrived in California spread out.

Because of the high cost of full-service movers, the migration captured in the study is college-educated people moving for high-end jobs, said Pam Perlich, senior research economist at the University of Utah.

For example, a full-service move for a family of four from California to Utah would cost roughly $9,000 to $11,000, though the cost is less if families pack themselves, according to a Salt Lake agent for United Van Lines.

"It's an indicator of economic means. ... We're getting job growth across the spectrum," Perlich said. "This is an indicator of good jobs across the state."

While Utah had been gaining population through international migration, the domestic trend in recent years has been more people moving out of Utah than in. That trend turned around in 2005, when Utah gained more people from than it lost to other states.

That migration includes those who moved out of Utah when jobs were scarce and salaries low, said Salt Lake Chamber President Lane Beattie. Now, he said, a state budget surplus of three years is an indicator of a strong economy.