7 FL Cities Dominate U.S. Growth Index For 2023: List

FLORIDA — Florida cities once again dominated the U.S. growth cities list again in 2023 with the Palm Bay-Melbourne market nabbing the No. 1 spot with the largest number of one-way moves last year, according to data from U-Haul.

The annual U-Haul Growth Index found seven Florida markets among the top 25 growth cities last year.

It’s the seventh year in a row the Sunshine State had the most cities represented on the list, the company said. The state saw four markets among the top 25 in 2022 and 10 in 2021.

It marks the seventh year in a row the Sunshine State has had the most cities represented. Florida had four markets among the top 25 in 2022, and a whopping 10 in 2021.

U-Haul calculates growth cities by looking at each city’s net gain or loss of one-way equipment from customer rentals each year. The U-Haul Growth Index is compiled from more than 2.5 million one-way U-Haul truck, trailer and U-Box moving containers across the U.S. and Canada.

In the Palm Bay-Melbourne market, 54.7% of all one-way U-Haul traffic was arriving compared to just 45.3% departing in 2023, the company said.

“Growth in the Palm Bay-Melbourne area has been increasing at an explosive rate,” Cal Conner, U-Haul Company of Eastern Florida president, said. “The Space Coast has many companies investing in this region and creating jobs such as Embraer, SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and L3Harris Technologies. We have a low cost of living compared to many of the northern cities people have left. Add to that our fantastic year-round climate, and you can see why Palm Bay-Melbourne is such a desirable area to live.”

Here are the Florida metro areas to make the top 25 list:

• Palm Bay-Melbourne - No. 1
• Ocala - No. 2
• Sarasota-Bradenton - No. 4
• Kissimmee-St. Cloud - No. 11
• Panama City-Panama City Beach - No. 12
• North Port - No. 13
• Lakeland - No. 20

Find the full U.S. list here.