WASHINGTON — United Van Lines moves a lot of people and families, and by its count, the District was among the top destinations for moving in last year.
For retirees, it was “go West, old man.”
United’s annual National Movers Study looks at the percentage of inbound moves versus outbound moves in each state.
D.C. ranked No. 7 on the Moving In list, with 58 percent of last year’s United Van Lines moves being inbound ones. South Dakota topped the list at nearly 68 percent.
Maryland ranked No. 31 on the list, with 47 percent of its moves being inbound, compared with 53 percent outbound. Virginia was No. 33, with 46.4 percent inbound versus 53.6 percent outbound. Both landed in United’s Balanced category, meaning neither the inbound or outbound number topped 55 percent.
The Northeast continues to experience a moving deficit, with New Jersey and New York topping the Moving Out list at 63 percent last year, followed by Connecticut, at 60 percent.
The report also notes that retirees are continuing to move to the Mountain and Pacific West, with high inbound moves in states such as Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Nevada and Arizona.
“This data clearly reflects retirees’ location preferences,” said Michael Stoll, an economist and professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has partnered with United Van Lines for the last five studies.
“Interestingly enough, these retirees are leaving at such a fast pace that the movement of millennials to urban areas in the Midwest and Northeast is being overshadowed.”
