Where's Everyone Going? New Survey Shows Residents Leaving CT

CONNECTICUT — The exodus of Connecticut residents to newer, if not necessarily greener, pastures continued in 2022, according to a report from a major moving company.

United Van Lines released its 46th Annual National Movers Study, which indicates Americans were on the move to lower-density areas and to be closer to their families throughout last year.

The annual study, which tracks customers' state-to-state migration patterns among the contiguous 48 states and the District of Columbia, determined neighboring Vermont as the state with the highest percentage of inbound migration (77 percent, 3 points higher than 2021) for the second year in a row.

Connecticut barely avoided appearing in the Out-Migration Top 10, coming in at No. 11 with outbound moves accounting for 56 percent of all United Van Lines' work in the state last year. It's an improvement over 60 percent in 2021, when Connecticut ranked 4th overall among states losing their residents. The UniGroup network, United Van Lines' parent company, classifies any outbound migration of 55 percent or more as "high."

Topping the list of outbound locations was New Jersey (71 percent, down 4 points from 2021). The Garden State has held the basement spot in the survey for the past five years. Illinois (64 percent) and New York (62 percent) ranked 2nd and 3rd among states with the largest exoduses.

Why is everyone so keen on going someplace else? A nationwide survey of United Van Lines' customers indicates it comes unsurprisingly down to job and family. Around 33 percent of those surveyed said they either wanted to be closer to their family, or that their employment mandated they get a new ZIP code. The one-third were looking to retire, plotting a lifestyle change, or chasing an improved cost of living.

The previous year's survey results indicated 31.8 percent of Americans who moved did so in order to be closer to family, a new trend that arose from the COVID-19 pandemic as priorities and lifestyle choices shifted.

A little over 20 percent of the mover's customers were newly retired, but Baby Boomers and Gen Xers moved than any other age group in 2022. These demographics accounted for more than 55 percent of all inbound United Van Lines moves last year.