U-Haul – Memphis Flyer

Tennessee remained a top growth state last year, according to U-Haul, but Memphis didn’t help much.

The state ranked sixth in growth, according to the company’s data. But that is down from the top spot Tennessee earned in 2020 and last year’s third-place finish.

This year, people arriving in Tennessee in one-way U-Haul trucks dropped 7 percent from 2021, while departures fell 6 percent, as overall traffic slowed. However, do-it-yourself movers arriving in Tennessee still accounted for 50.3 percent of all one-way U-Haul truck traffic in and out of Tennessee (49.7 percent departures) to keep it a top-10 growth state for the third consecutive year.

“I think Tennessee dropped slightly in the U-Haul Growth Index because of the huge increase in tech jobs that became remote during the pandemic, and some of those people being called back to their California and New York offices in 2022,” Chris Hardin, U-Haul Company of South Nashville president, said in a statement. “But we continue to have a beautiful state that a lot of people want to make their home.”

Tennessee’s top growth city for 2022 was Nashville. Other growing markets included Maryville, Brentwood, Cleveland, Old Hickory, the Tri-Cities (Johnson City, Kingsport, and Bristol), Hendersonville, La Vergne, Sparta, Ooltewah, Manchester, Hermitage, Mt. Juliet, Greeneville, and Cookeville. Jackson and Germantown were the only two West Tennessee cities to make U-Haul’s growing-market list from Tennessee.

Texas was the leading growth state for the fifth time since 2016. Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia rounded out the top five. California ranks 50th and Illinois 49th for the third year in a row, indicating those states saw the largest net losses of one-way U-Haul trucks.

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They found us, well kind of.

U-Haul, the do-it-yourself moving company, said the number of people using their trucks to move to Tennessee last year put the state at the top of the heap. The state had the largest net gain of trucks crossing its borders than any other state, making Tennessee U-Haul’s no. 1 growth state for the first time.

But that don’t necessarily mean Memphis.

The biggest gains in the state went to East and Middle Tennessee. U-Haul’s top growth cities include Knoxville, the Tri-Cities (Kingsport, Johnson City, and Bristol), Cleveland, and Maryville in East Tennessee, and Cookeville, Clarksville, and Murfreesboro in Middle Tennessee.

U-Haul said last year arrivals of one-way trucks into Tennessee jumped 12 percent, while departures rose only nine percent over 2019, and it was that disparity that jumped it up their charts. Arrivals accounted for 50.6 percent of all one-way U-Haul traffic in Tennessee, which ranked no. 12 among growth states a year ago.

Florida and Texas have held each held U-Haul’s distinction every year since 2015 when North Carolina earned the top spot.

However, U-Haul said migration trends do not correlate directly to population or economic growth. It said the company’s growth data is an effective gauge of how well cities and states are attracting and maintaining residents.
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