Where is America moving? 2013 Migration Patterns

Atlas Van Lines hold an annual analysis on migration patterns.

The 2013 data was released and you can view this info here or on Atlas Van Lines website.

 2013 Migration Patterns By Atlas Van Lines

As reported on Atlas Van Lines website:

“Where is America moving?

Since January 1993, Atlas Van Lines has reviewed and released data on the origins and destinations of interstate (or between states) moves throughout the previous calendar year. The 2013 Migration Patterns study results provide a snapshot of relocation patterns and this year, the majority of the country achieved a balance between inbound and outbound moves while the total number of moves increased six percent from 2012.

Similar to last year, the highest number of moves occurred in California, Texas and Florida. Regional trends show the most significant changes occurred in the Northern and Western states while the Southern and Midwestern states saw very little change.

Other migration trends:

Northern States

The Northern states underwent major change from 2012 to 2013. Pennsylvania went from being a balanced state to outbound; Vermont and West Virginia both went from being outbound states to balanced; and Delaware went from being balanced to outbound. Washington DC remains as the only northern location to be inbound for 11 consecutive years.

Southern States

The Southern states saw no change from 2012 to 2013. The majority of the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states remain balanced with the exception of Tennessee and North Carolina, which both remain inbound states. All of the Southwest states remain balanced in 2013 excluding inbound Texas.

Midwestern States

Mirroring last year’s data, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota and Nebraska remained outbound while Kansas, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa remained balanced. North Dakota remained inbound. No Midwestern state has been classified as inbound for more than 10 consecutive years.

Western States

The Western states also experienced significant change since 2012, particularly with Montana and Idaho shifting from balanced to inbound states. Additionally, Washington went from inbound to balanced, leaving the majority of the Western Unites States balanced.

Canadian Provinces

Five of the 10 provinces remain outbound – British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Saskatchewan. Having moved to inbound in 2012, New Brunswick is back to being balanced. Another noteworthy change is that Quebec went from being balanced to outbound. Two territories – Nunavut and Yukon Territory – are unclassified, while the third territory – Northwest Territory – is outbound.

How is a state classified?

Each state/province has a threshold value, which is the total number of shipments multiplied by 0.55 (for example, in a state with 100 moves, at least 55 of them would have to be outgoing to classify the state as outbound). A state/province is considered:

  • Outbound when outbound shipments exceed the threshold.
  • Inbound when inbound shipments exceed the threshold.