Florida gets a lot of flack for a lot of different reasons: We’re too hot, too stormy, too weird, too extra, our lawmakers are too loud and our rent is too damn high. But at least one positive story has been repeated over and over the last couple of years: Everyone wants to move to Florida.
And it’s true! Not only was Florida the fastest-growing state last year, but it ranked in the top three over the last two years, adding more than 655,000 new residents between 2020 and 2022 (second only to Texas). Despite this fact, people already living in Florida seem to have different thoughts.
According to a new study by the moving company SelfStorage.com that analyzed Google search data across the 50 states, Florida ranks #1 as the state most Americans want to relocate from. Though the study doesn’t attempt to get into the “why” of it all, we could venture a few guesses if we had to.
The study looked at Google search volume for various keywords such as "haulage," "moving companies," "packing and unpacking services" and "professional movers” in each respective state. “These keywords reflect the intentions and interests of individuals seeking information about moving services and options,” the study says.
Based on that metric, Florida took the lead with a search volume of 152 per 100,000 population, indicating a relatively high level of interest in relocation among Florida residents. Utah closely followed with a search volume of 144 per 100,000 population.
Idaho (143 per 100,000) and Colorado (131 per 100,000) took the third and fourth spots, and New York ranked fifth with a search volume of 124 per 100,000 population. Arizona, South Carolina, Texas, Kansas, and Washington also made the list, indicating that residents in these states show a relatively high interest in exploring opportunities to move elsewhere.
The study also looked into the search volume and popularity of different U.S. states as desired destinations for people looking to relocate, using keyword phrases like "Relocate to [state]," "Houses in [state]" and "Move to [state]." Interestingly, many of the states people were itching to leave were the same states people are clamoring to get into. (Texas and Florida took the #1 and #2 spots, respectively.)
While all the data continues to show that people really like the idea of moving to Florida, at least one Miami-based realtor recently estimated that 50% of his clients who are new to the state move out within a few years. Go figure.