Study: Wilmington number 1 in country for inbound moves

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - If you think Wilmington is a great place to live you’re not alone, according to a recent study, Wilmington was the number one city in 2020 for inbound moves in the United States.

The study, conducted by United Van Lines, shows residents continue to move southbound and westbound, and while Wilmington was the number one city for inbound moves, it’s actually Idaho that takes the number one spot at the state level for new residents. North Carolina ranked number six in the top 10 states for inbound residents.

So where are these residents coming from?

“According to the study, which tracks the company’s exclusive data for customers’ 2020 state-to-state migration patterns, Idaho was the state with the highest percentage of inbound migration (70%) among states experiencing more than 250 moves* with United Van Lines for the second consecutive year. Topping the list of outbound locations was New Jersey (70% outbound), which has held the spot for the past three years,” according to a press release.

As a whole 60.2% of the data were inbound moves to North Carolina compared to 39.8% outbound and trends showed that people were leaving bigger cities in 2020 and choosing locations like Wilmington instead.

“Throughout the pandemic in 2020, major metropolitan areas and hotspots, such as New York City (72%), Newark (72%) and Chicago (69%), experienced greater outbound migration, while lower-density cities like Wilmington, North Carolina (79%) and Boise, Idaho (75%) saw high levels of inbound moves,” according to the release.

The study has been conducted by the moving company since 1977 and tracks migration patterns.

“The 2020 study is based on household moves handled by United within the 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C. and ranks states based off the inbound and outbound percentages of total moves in each state. United classifies states as “high inbound” if 55 percent or more of the moves are going into a state, “high outbound” if 55 percent or more moves were coming out of a state or “balanced” if the difference between inbound and outbound is negligible,” according to the release.

Overall the majority of residents moving to the state were older, in fact, 60.98% of inbound moves were 55 and older and 23.93% of those moves were for retirement.

The top 10 cities by inbound percentage were:

1. Wilmington, NC
2. Sarasota-Bradenton, FL
3. Boise, ID
4. Huntsville, AL
5. Fort Myers-Cape Coral, FL
6. Knoxville, TN
7. Melbourne-Titusville-Palm Bay, FL
8. Austin-Sand Marcos, TX
9. Nashville, TN
10. Fort Collins-Loveland, CO

The top 10 cities that residents moved from include:

1. Nassau-Suffolk, NY
2. Bergen-Passaic, NJ
3. Trenton, NJ
4. New York, NY
5. Newark, NJ
6. Chicago, IL
7. Bremerton, WA
8. Bridgeport, CT
9. Middlesex, NJ
10. Lake, IL

You can view the interactive map provided by United Van Lines below.

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