On one side of the coin, thousands of people make their living helping people move. On the other side are those of us who are doing the moving. If you’re on the “doing the moving” side (like I am), you know it’s a difficult and expensive task. Yet, the average American will move 11.7 times during their lifetime. (Who knew?) Not counting the moves back and forth from home to college, but counting my current, in-progress move to Texas, I’ve only moved five times so far. No, make that six. As a teenager, my family moved into a new house. It doesn’t matter it was literally next door, it still counts as a move. (Oh, and, no, I have no desire to try and reach that 11.7 stat before I’m done.)

Did You Know…

• In the U.S., approximately 8.4% of people move each year.
• Most people moving (82%) stay within the state where they’re living. Only 11% moved to another state and only 4% moved to another country.
• Of those people staying in the state where they live, 65% of them stay in the same county.
• “Housing-related” is the top reason (40%) for moving. Next is family-related reasons (27%), followed closely by job-related reasons (21%).
• People don’t move around like they used to. Today, only half as many people move each year as did the people living in the 1960s.
• Today, half of the people moving do so between the first of May and Labor Day.
• Most of the people moving fall in the 18-34 age range (Millennials) and have 1-2 children.
• Those in the 25-35 age range move less today than those of previous generations.
• Stats for 2021 show more people moved to Idaho, New Mexico, and Maine than any other states. On the other hand, the states most people were leaving were New York, California, Illinois, and the District of Columbia.
• According to 28% of people, COVID was the number one reason they moved.
• Pre-COVID, Oakland was the city people most wanted to move to. During COVID, that changed to Dallas.
• Economics also plays a role in why people move. People are leaving expensive cities like San Francisco and Oakland for cities with less expensive costs of living like Orlando, Denver, and Nashville.

Last Thoughts

Remember, labor and transportation aren’t cheap. So any part of the moving process you can do yourself will save you money. And take it from me, the earlier you can start your purging and packing process, the better.