Idaho makes top 10 in another growth list. Here’s what U-Haul saw through truck rentals
Idaho has been one of the fastest-growing states in the nation for the past several years, consistently ranking highly for population growth.
A University of Idaho study conducted last summer found that approximately one in four people are new to the state, and a recent study conducted by rental company U-Haul continues to back up U of I’s findings.
While many studies find Idaho near the top of the list for growth as a percentage of the before-and-after population, U-Haul found that the Gem State still ranks 10th in the nation for the net number of people moving and leaving.
Idaho was ranked 9th in 2021, dropping below a handful of states that saw huge jumps from 2021 to 2022.
U-Haul uses a growth index to analyze where customers are moving across the country; a one-way U-Haul indicates a customer is moving permanently from one state to another. The growth index analyzed the travel data of more than 2 million trucks in 2022.
Although the study doesn’t provide an exact number, U-Haul said that one-way trucks into Idaho increased by 4% over 2021, while trucks out of the state increased by 5%. Although there was a larger percentage increase in those leaving the state, one-way U-Haulers into the state still accounted for 50.4% of truck traffic into Idaho, resulting in continued growth.
“Idaho is a beautiful place to live. We have been on this growth trend for several years, and I don’t see it stopping,” Doug McIntier, a U-Haul area district vice president who oversees five states, including Idaho, said in a news release.
McIntier, who lives in Boise, attributed the continued growth to the new Micron Technology Inc. plant planned for Boise and the Idaho National Laboratory, which employs over 5,700 researchers and support staff.
“Idaho is also a great place to live because the standard of living is high, the cost of living is relatively low, and there is still reasonable housing,” McIntier said. “I see people from California and Texas relocating to Idaho for affordability.”
With the state’s growth, housing costs in Boise have continued to rise, though. While the Boise housing market is slowing down, it’s quickly become one of the least affordable in the United States. The median price of an Ada County home in the first half of 2022 was $579,900, according to previous Statesman reporting.
Here are the top 10 states for 2022 where U-Haul is seeing customers move. Their 2021 rank is in parenthesis:
Texas (1)
Florida (2)
South Carolina (4)
North Carolina (19)
Virginia (31)
Tennessee (3)
Arizona (5)
Georgia (23)
Ohio (24)
Idaho (9)
California ranked last for the second year in a row, while Illinois also saw its second-straight year at No. 49. Other states that have repeatedly seen more U-Haulers leave the state than join are Michigan, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey.
