Why Americans Move? The Retirement Impact

Most people don’t move in retirement. About 80% or more stay close to where they lived in the decades before retirement. But there are many people, retired and otherwise, who move each year. Reports by two moving companies reveal why many people move: warmer temperatures and more affordable homes. The top states people are leaving are Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, and New Jersey. Those have been the top five states since 2010 in an Allied Van Lines annual report. United Van Lines has a slightly different list of states people are leaving.

Michael Stoll, an economist with the department of public policy at the University of California in Los Angeles, said in a statement for United that migration patterns reflected long-term movement to the South and Southwest, where housing costs are lower, climates are less severe and job growth has been at or above the national average.

United said Oregon was the most preferred destination for its clients, followed by South Carolina, North Carolina, Vermont and Florida. The company said 38 percent of its clients moving to Oregon were going for a new job while 29 percent cited retirement.

Allied clients were most likely to move to Texas, Florida, Arizona, South Carolina and Colorado, the company said.