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This is the No. 1 state Americans want to move to most – People are ‘trading square footage for quality of life’
Published Wed, Oct 29 20257:05 PM EDT
By moveBuddha ranked the states Americans are looking to move to right now.
In January, U.S. Census data showed that Americans were flocking to the Sun Belt states and according to a new report from moveBuddha that trend is still going strong.
The relocation tech company used proprietary data collected from 2020 through October 1, 2025, to analyze move trends. moveBuddha calculated the rates using an in-to-out ratio equation, based on the number of queries to move in divided by the number of queries to move out, using the company’s moving cost calculator.
The report found that four of the top 10 states people are looking to move to most are located in the South.
“The pattern is unmistakable: Americans are trading square footage for quality of life, megacities for mid-markets, and high costs for breathing room,” the report states.
Ryan Carrigan, founder of moveBuddha, tells CNBC Make It that the report confirms this trend that’s been established for a while: People are moving South.
“It’s just a very popular place to move. I think there’s a lot of affordability and housing availability. Those things are pretty big factors in terms of people moving,” he says.
Carrigan also said the report shows that some of the covid-19 trends are starting to reverse, as evidenced by California not seeing as high a rate of people moving out. Despite that, California remains an exit state with one of the lowest in-to-out ratios in the country.
“At some point, it had to reverse, but you don’t really see anything improving in California. They still have a lot of challenges, including cost of living, unemployment, and natural disaster challenges too. Everyone who was going to leave has left, but they are also benefiting from the AI boom, particularly in Northern California right now,” he adds.
For the sixth year in a row, South Carolina is the state Americans want to move to most
In-to-out-ratio: 1.97
South Carolina is the most popular state to move to for the sixth year in a row. Movers have shown more than double the interest in moves in than out.
According to the report, one big reason for that trend is that the state still offers affordability and access to nature, which boosts job growth. South Carolina was one of the five states with the highest net volume of move-related searches, at 13.7%.
Carrigan says another reason South Carolina came in at the top of the list is that it’s a major retiree state. According to a 2021 Population Reference Bureau report, 18.7% of South Carolina’s population is age 65 and over.
“Younger people aren’t really moving and moving has been generally slower since covid-19,” he says. “South Carolina benefits from being a retiree state, which is still a good portion of people moving, and it’s also the story that there’s still affordability and housing availability.”
South Carolina is the 27th-cheapest state to live in, according to data from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center gathered in 2024. The cost of living in South Carolina is 9% lower than the national average, according to RentCafe. Housing is 18% lower than the national average but utilities are 10% higher.
The average South Carolina home value is $302,294, down 0.8% over the past year, according to Zillow.
The top 10 states Americans want to move to most 2025
- South Carolina
- North Carolina
- Idaho
- Alaska
- Tennessee
- Maine
- Delaware
- South Dakota
- Alabama
- Arkansas
North Carolina ranked second among the most popular states to move to, according to moveBuddha. The state had a 1.61 in-to-out ratio. North Carolina also had the highest volume of net searches in 2025 for people moving into the state from other states.
Carrigan says similar to South Carolina, North Carolina ranked highly because of the number of retirees continuing to move there. Florida was a popular state to move to during the covid-19 pandemic, but North Carolina remains affordable while Florida has not, he says.
“North Carolina is still a strong candidate to move to and it has a beautiful coast too,” he adds.
Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.
Continue/Read Original Article Here: Top 10 states Americans want to move to most, according to moveBuddha
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