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Dallas makes list of top 10 cities for people on the move in 2023

The newcomers keep on coming.

U-Haul International/Instagram

Texas was the top state in America for people on the move in 2023, according to the company that provided them with the equipment: Top Growth States Report, a new report from U-Haul, ranks Texas the No. 1 state for newcomers in 2023. It's the third year in the row that Texas has held that distinction.

The report is based on how many one-way transactions were made by do-it-yourself movers using a U-Haul truck, trailer, or U-Box moving container across the U.S. and Canada.

While U-Haul's numbers don't directly correlate to population or economic growth, it is an interesting look at the performance of the top American cities and states that are attracting newcomers.

U-Haul further drills down to the most popular cities in its Top U.S. Growth Cities, and Dallas makes the top 10, coming in at No. 9.

Despite Texas' impressive ranking, the number of do-it-yourself movers who arrived in the Lone Star State fell nearly 11 percent from 2022.

Cory Hall, the U-Haul Area District Vice President for Southern Texas, says in a press release that major tech companies like Oracle, Tesla, Google, and Apple are drawing tens of thousands of employees to Texas from other states like California and New York.

"Texas is growing at a massive rate right now, which doesn’t really seem to surprise anybody based on the companies that are investing here," Hall says. “The lower cost of living and taxes for those companies… it’s a huge investment for them."

On the list of top cities, Austin comes in at No. 5, and College Station-Bryan — a popular choice thanks to Texas A&M University — comes in at No. 6.

The full list of top 10 cities for 2023 are:

No. 1 – Palm Bay-Melbourne, Florida
No. 2 – Ocala, Florida
No. 3 – Charleston-North Charleston, South Carolina
No. 4 – Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida
No. 5 – Austin
No. 6 – College Station-Bryan
No. 7 – Charlotte, North Carolina
No. 8 – Huntsville, Alabama
No. 9 – Dallas
No. 10 – Myrtle Beach-North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Both reports can be found on uhaul.com.

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No Cap

Dallas was a top-10 destination for Gen Zers on the move for 2023

Photo by Lance Asper on Unsplash

Who wouldn't want to live in a Gen Z paradise like Dallas?

As Gen Z enters adulthood, many are flocking to the nation's biggest cultural hubs like New York City, Los Angeles — and now Dallas, which had the ninth-highest inflow of Gen Zers in 2023.

Dallas' new reputation as a Gen Z hotspot was unveiled in a recent report by American home improvement brand This Old House, which analyzed migration trends across multiple generations using 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data.

Dallas saw an influx of 13,770 Gen Z residents last year to become the generation's No. 9 most popular city. That's 4,223 more Gen Zers than the net migration rate from 2022, the report found.

Real estate marketplace Zillow seems to agree on a statewide scale, declaring Texas as the No. 1 destination for Gen Zers on the move in 2024.

However, as Gen Z Dallasites may have learned, it's going to take a big bite out of their paychecks to live in such a highly sought after city. A March RentCafe housing cost analysis predicted Gen Z adults living in Dallas are likely to spend over $149,000 on rent by the time they are 30 years old.

While Dallas saw big gains in its Gen Z population last year, many other big cities saw a mass exodus. Plano, for example — which gained 1,295 Gen Z residents in 2022 — lost 4,028 Gen Zers in 2023, the report discovered.

The biggest Gen-Z exodus was in El Paso, with a drop of 5,607 — "a sharp turn from 2022 when the city saw an increase," the report said. "Other cities, including Plano, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; McKinney, Texas; and Wichita, Kansas, are seeing similar declines."

"Gen X, baby boomers, and the Silent Generation are also moving away from major cities, particularly New York City and Washington, D.C.," the report said. "They’re heading to some of the same cities as Gen Z, including Houston and Jacksonville, Florida."

The top 10 cities that gained the most Gen Z residents in 2023 are:

No. 1 – New York City, New York
No. 2 – Los Angeles, California
No. 3 – Houston, Texas
No. 4 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
No. 5 – Chicago, Illinois
No. 6 – San Diego, California
No. 7 – Seattle, Washington
No. 8 – Charlotte, North Carolina
No. 9 – Dallas, Texas
No. 10 – Minneapolis, Minnesota

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