PROVIDENCE – In Rhode Island, slightly more than half of all moving trips were inbound to the Ocean State in 2019 while Massachusetts saw more than half of movers leave, according to United Van Lines’ 43rd annual National Movers Study released last week.
The study tracks the moving company’s customers’ state-to-state migration patterns over the past year. The official rankings in the study are based on states experiencing more than 250 moves with United Van Lines.
United Van Lines had 374 customers out of 707 moving to and from Rhode Island, or 52.9%, move to the Ocean State, ranking it No. 18 overall of all states in the study, according to an analysis of the study by the Tax Foundation. That percentage of customers moving to Rhode Island is also the second-highest among the New England states, behind Vermont at 74.3% – although the study did not count the Green Mountain State in its official rankings because the company had fewer than 250 total moves to and from the state.
Employment (51.3%) and family (29.7%) are the primary reasons why customers said they moved to Rhode Island, the study stated. Employment, at 44.4%, was also the highest reason customers chose to leave Rhode Island, followed by retirement at 24.4%.
Of those that moved to Rhode Island in the study, 24.2% were under 34 years old, 27.3% were in the range of 35-44 years old and 27.3% were 65 or older. The age range of 55-64 years of age accounted for 15.2% of inbound customers, while the range of 45-54 year old customers accounted for just 6.1%.
The largest age range of outbound customers from Rhode Island in 2019 were over the age of 65 at 27.9%, followed by the 35-44 year old age range at 25.6% of those moving out of the state.
In Massachusetts, 2,122 people, or 54.8% of those surveyed, moved out of the Bay State, while 45.2%, or 1,753, moved to the state, putting Massachusetts No. 38 in the country for percentage of inbound moves. Employment was the highest-rated reason for both those that elected to move to Massachusetts (51.3%) and why others said they were leaving (44.4%).
Maine saw 50.2% all moving traffic as inbound to the Pine Tree State, according to the study, while Connecticut had 63% percent of all movers in the study leave the Constitution State in 2019.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com.
