For the eighth year running, New Jersey leads the nation in outbound migration, according to United Van Lines’ 49th Annual Movers Study.
Sixty-two percent of Garden State moves in 2025 were people heading for the exits. And as someone who grew up here, I’ll be honest — none of that surprises me.
You don’t need a study to tell you property taxes are brutal. Or that a modest three-bedroom in a decent school district can cost you what would buy a small estate in the Carolinas. Or that the daily grind of commuting into the city, whether by car, train, or some painful combination of both, wears on you in ways that are hard to explain until you’ve lived it for a decade or two.
The national picture backs this up.
The study found that Americans are moving primarily to be closer to family (29%), for jobs (26%), and for retirement (14%).
Oregon actually knocked everyone out to claim the top inbound spot this year at 65%, followed by West Virginia and South Carolina.
The broader trend is clear: people are gravitating toward smaller cities and towns where housing is more affordable and life moves at a different speed. Top destination metros included Eugene-Springfield, Oregon and Wilmington, North Carolina. These are all places that would’ve barely registered on most people’s radar a generation ago.
Meanwhile, New Jersey sits alongside New York and California at the top of the outbound list, a familiar neighborhood for all three states at this point.
But here’s the part of the data that caught my attention and honestly gave me a little hope: New Jersey is still pulling people in, particularly younger ones. Twenty-one percent of inbound moves were people aged 18 to 34.
The study calls New Jersey a “launch state”, a place young professionals and families choose specifically to build careers and get started. That tracks. The job access, the proximity to New York and Philadelphia, the sheer density of industries packed into this tiny state makes it a legitimate draw if you’re ambitious and just getting going.
And with new industries taking shape, like the welcome of the movie industry with Netflix creating a studio here, the growth is expected to expand.
The problem is what happens ten or fifteen years later. You’ve built something, the kids are getting older, and you start doing the math on what your life could look like somewhere the cost of living doesn’t feel like a second mortgage.
That’s when the Carolinas start calling. Or Delaware. Or, apparently now, Oregon.
What’s also worth noting is the shift happening in places we used to think of as sure bets.
Texas and Florida, both states that spent years as migration magnets have moved into “balanced” territory. Rising housing costs are catching up with them too, which tells you this isn’t just a Northeast problem. It’s a nationwide recalibration of what people can afford and what they’re willing to put up with.
Illinois, on the other hand, quietly became a balanced state for the first time in over a decade after years on the outbound list. So trajectories can change.
I still live in New Jersey. I still love so much about it – the food, the beaches, the fact that I can get to three major cities in under two hours. But I also understand, deeply, why someone would look at their tax bill, look at a Zillow listing in Greenville or Boise, and start packing boxes.
The numbers say what most of us already feel: staying here is a choice you have to keep making, actively, every single year. And for a growing number of people, the answer is changing.
Source: https://www.unitedvanlines.com/newsroom/2025-national-movers-study
