For people trained to stay demographics and population shifts, the evidence they’ve been examining the past couple of years is so obvious that a class of third graders (all masked up, of course) in California or New York could interpret the data. 

Many people are fleeing high tax liberal states like California, New York, and Illinois, and moving to business-friendly, lower tax states run by conservative governors, such as Florida and Texas. 

A nonpartisan group called the Tax Foundation backed that conclusion, saying a growing number of Americans are high-tailing it out of blue states, and new information released by U-Haul and United Van Lines makes it official. 

U-Haul released a report saying Texas beat out Florida for the largest net gain of one-way UHaul trucks in California. Tennessee was third, followed by South Carolina and Arizona.  

At the bottom of the list is California at 50 and Illinois at number 49, showing those two states had the most significant net losses of one-way U-Haul trucks.  

As for where the people are moving to, the growth in Texas is statewide, with some of the biggest gains occurring around the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex.  Florida’s gains were all over as well, with many people moving south of Orlando and along both coastlines. 

Here’s what U-Haul VP Matt Merrill said in a company press release. 

“We see a lot of growth coming from the East and West Coast. A lot of people moving here from California (and) New York. We also see a lot of people coming in from the Chicago markets. I think that’s a lot due to the job growth – a lot of opportunities here. The cost of living here is much lower than those areas. Texas is open for business.”

Overall, California’s population shrank by 0.8%, and Illinois lost 1.1% of its population. 

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