The entire home furnishings industry, from furniture producers to interior designers, is tied to Americans’ proclivity for moving. We get our first apartment; we buy a starter home. Then we buy bigger homes — and later we downsize.
Each of those moves prompts purchases of everything from sofas to dining tables to mattresses. (Our research arm, Consumer Insights Now, examines purchasing plans of new homebuyers in research that will be released March 24, so be sure to look for that next week.) Such moves can also prompt homeowners to hire designers to make their new space look great.
A key reason the home furnishings industry has been in such a slump the past couple of years is that on-the-move Americans have been staying put more than usual, in part because of a frustrating combination of high interest rates and high housing prices.
That said, Americans remain migratory, and looking at big shifts in where people are relocating can help you find new markets to expand your services or relocate your own business.
A recent analysis of moving trends by moveBuddha, a site that compares prices and helps consumers choose moving services, finds that, in general, people who are moving right now are “seeking out affordability and access to nature, with an increasing interest in moves into affordable, midsized cities and low-density states where they find thriving job markets, low costs and, often, big nature.”
Where are they finding those things? The South!
Using an in-to-out move ratio, moveBuddha’s research released earlier this month shows that South Carolina is the top destination in the country for people moving from one state to another, followed by Tennessee, North Carolina, Alabama, Delaware, Maine, West Virginia, Arkansas, Idaho and Mississippi. Seven out of 10 are in the South or Southeast. And two of the three that aren’t — Idaho and Maine — offer the low-density populations and the easy access to nature that moveBuddha says movers are seeking.
Given those trends, it’s not surprising to see the states people are leaving. Using that same in-to-out move ratio, moveBuddha finds people departing these 10 locales at the highest rates: New Jersey, California, Connecticut, New York, Nebraska, North Dakota, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire and Washington, D.C.
“The story hasn’t changed in California and New Jersey,” according to moveBuddha. “These two states have ranked among the top 3 exit states since 2020.”
Other firms and analysts tracking such trends, including many moving companies, have slightly different lists, frequently with Texas and Florida as hotspots, but the trends are fairly consistent: a shift from the north to the south, from colder climes to warmer ones, from densely populated states to ones with more rural and exurb spaces.
That doesn’t mean that big cities still don’t have a draw. Colonial Van Lines’ most recent research into Americans’ moves shows that even as people depart states like New York and California, their largest cities continue to attract new residents. But many of the hottest large metro areas are in the southern half of the country.
Colonial says the most popular cities in the United States, based on last year’s moving trends, are Houston, Las Vegas, New York City, Chicago, Austin, Dallas, Charlotte, Atlanta, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Denver, Orlando, Jacksonville, San Antonio, Seattle, Tampa, Colorado Springs, Portland (OR), Miami, and Raleigh.
“From new retirement havens to rising midsized cities, the 2025 relocation landscape emphasizes quality of life, affordability and the enduring aftershocks of the pandemic era’s shifting priorities,” according to moveBuddha. “As movers seek a balance between work, lifestyle and cost, these preferences will continue to reshape where Americans are putting down roots in the years ahead.”
If you’re based in a city or state that is more likely to be losing population than gaining, it may be time to start expanding the range of your work — and your marketing. Many designers do this by working on the vacation homes, second homes or investment properties of current clients that happen to be in growing states. Those designers can then market and build word-of-mouth business in those locations. It’s a smart move.
