Illinois among states with highest demand for outbound U-Haul trucks, report shows

CHICAGO - More people fled Illinois in 2022 than nearly every other state in the country, according to a new report.

U-Haul released its annual Growth Index report on Tuesday, which measured more than two million one-way trips last year.

The Land of Lincoln, which took the No. 49 spot for the third consecutive year, has consistently ranked among states with the least amount of one-way, inbound truck traffic over the last decade, according to U-Haul.

People arriving in Illinois in one-way U-Haul trucks increased close to 6% over 2021, while departures rose 5% year-over-year. Overall moving traffic slowed throughout most of the U.S., but remained busy in Illinois in 2022.

A U-Haul logo is seen on the truck in Chicago, United States on October 19, 2022. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Do-it-yourself movers departing Illinois accounted for 50.7% of all one-way U-Haul truck traffic in and out of the state.

The top Illinois cities for netting U-Haul customers are Chicago, Melrose Park and Champaign. Other notable net-gain markets include Peoria, Evanston, Joliet, Danville, Rolling Meadows, Arlington Heights, Quincy, Decatur and Carbondale.

The only other state to see higher demand for outbound trucks was California, which ranked last on U-Haul's Growth Index in 2022.

Texas, which took the top spot for the second year in a row and the fifth time since 2016, has seen its population steadily growing for decades with more than 30 million residents last year.

The John Hancock Center, and partial view of the Chicago Skyline looking South, as photographed from atop the Lincoln Park Zoo Lagoon, in Chicago, Illinois on MAY 24, 2013. (Raymond Boyd/Getty Images / Getty Images)

The Lone Star State gained about 470,000 people between July 2021 and July 2022, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Domestic migration, meaning Americans moving within states, accounted for about 231,000 of Texas' population gain during that time frame, while international migration accounted for 118,000 and natural increase accounted for another 118,000 residents.

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"Texas is great because you have a low the cost of living, no state income tax, and deregulated energy costs," Robert Abidin, President of U-Haul Company of Northeast Houston, said in a statement. "Texas is also the energy capital of the U.S. We’re home to every major industry. Anything you’re looking for in Texas, you can find in Texas."

A file image dated Sept. 12, 2016 shows a U-Haul moving truck in the parking lot of an apartment complex in San Francisco, California. (Photo via Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images).

Florida ranked second on the growth index for the second year in a row.

South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia rounded out the top five states for growth in 2022, while New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois and California all ranked in the bottom five.