Nevada – Definitely a top ‘inbound’ state

Did you know that 14% of the U.S. population (or roughly 40 million people) move each year? Me either.

Where do they move to? To answer that question, we can look at studies such as North American Moving Services’ recently released 2017 US Migration Report.

This link will take you to North American Moving Services’ interactive map where you can hover over any of the 48 contiguous states to see the ratio of the number of people moving to that state (inbound) compared to the number of people moving from (outbound) the state.

Looking at the state of Nevada for example, the map shows that in 2017 the ratio was 56 percent inbound moves vs. 44 percent outbound moves.

These results are consistent with the results from United Van Lines’ 2017 National Movers Study on which I reported last week [See Why are people moving to Nevada?]. That study reported the ratio of moves to/from Nevada as 61 percent inbound moves vs. 39 percent outbound moves — making Nevada one of the highest ranking states in the U.S. for inbound moves.

And Atlas Van Lines reports an even higher percentage of inbound moves to Nevada. In their 2017 Moving Migration Patterns Report Atlas Van Lines reports that Nevada’s inbound moves came in at 62.4 percent for the year (compared to 37.6 percent for outbound moves). These numbers ranked Nevada 3rd on Atlas Van Lines’ Top-10 Inbound States list.

None of these findings should be surprising in light of the U.S. Census Bureau’s recent Population Change Report showing that Nevada is the 2nd-fastest growing state in the nation.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s report, from July 1, 2016, to July 1, 2017 Nevada’s population grew from 2,939,254 to 2,998,039, or 2.0 percent – second only to the state of Idaho, which grew 2.2 percent during the same period.

[Source: U.S. Census Bureau]

From the Bureau’s Population Change Report:

Domestic migration drove change in the two fastest-growing states, Idaho and Nevada, while an excess of births over deaths played a major part in the growth of the third fastest-growing state, Utah,” said Luke Rogers, Chief of the Population Estimates Branch.

How big was this migration? According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s populations numbers, between July 1, 2016, to July 1, 2017 Nevada had a net incoming migration of 46,184 persons. [For comparison, during the same time frame, California had a net incoming migration of 26,672 persons.]

With no signs of Nevada’s growth slowing perhaps the state will top next year’s Census Bureau’s list of fastest-growing states. What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below.