New Mexico ranks high in two migration reports

Rex Gauvin sold many of his belongings, packed the rest into his car and took a meandering move across the country from Maine to Santa Fe in late October.

Gauvin, 37, had lived in a handful of states in the Midwest and New England. And when his twin sister moved to Rio Rancho at the start of the year, Gauvin saw an opportunity to move to the same time zone as his sister for the first time since 2008.

A trained wilderness emergency medical technician, Gauvin thought there would be a job available for him.

"I mean there's three different mountain ranges within an hour of here," said Gauvin, who lives in Santa Fe. "I wanted mountains, I knew that. I had never experienced the Southwest, the desert, the mountains. ... There's a plethora of things for someone who enjoys the outdoors, like me."

He is currently working as a ski instructor at Ski Santa Fe.

"So so it's just the area was a good draw for me personally," he said of New Mexico. "But also the I had the added benefit of going to be closer to family."

Gauvin and his twin weren't the only outsiders to settle in the Land of Enchantment last year. New Mexico continues to be a top state for movers, ranking in the top 20 of the U-Haul Growth Index and No. 9 for inbound moves in the United Van Lines 47th Annual National Movers Study in 2023."

U-Haul report

New Mexico, according to the U-Haul report, ranked No. 16 — moving up three spots from 2022’s ranking. The report is compiled from more than 2.5 million one-way U-Haul customer transactions in the United States and Canada.

The report says one-way U-Haul customers arriving in New Mexico decreased 7% from 2022, while departures fell 7% “as overall moving traffic slowed.”

“Do-it-yourself movers arriving in New Mexico still accounted for almost 50.3% of all one-way U-Haul traffic in and out of the Land of Enchantment (49.7% departures) to keep it a top-20 growth state,” the report added.

The report says Taos is New Mexico’s highest growth city, while other cities and towns such as Alamogordo, Ruidoso, Gallup, Las Cruces, Carlsbad, Los Lunas, Rio Rancho, Chaparral and Hobbs were “other notable net-gain markets.”

Across the nation, the southern region continues to show the most growth with Texas having the largest number of movers in one-way U-Haul equipment, according to the report. It’s the third year in a row Texas has ranked No. 1 and sixth time in the last eight years.

Behind Texas is Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

California placed last, the same as it did in the 2022 ranking.

“While one-way transactions in 2023 remained below the record-breaking levels we witnessed immediately following the pandemic, we continued to see many of the same geographical trends from U-Haul customers moving between states,” said U-Haul International President John Taylor in a statement.

United Van Lines study

In a separate report from United Van Lines, New Mexico ranked No. 9 in the country for inbound moves.

The company, which put out the report for the 47th time, says 59.6% of moves to and from New Mexico were inbound. Of that number, 30% moved to the state for work reasons. More than 21% of inbound moves were for retirement-related reasons and 15% for family.

“Individuals, families and businesses around the country are recognizing the potential New Mexico offers, especially with regards to jobs, lifestyle and retirement,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “We’re continuing to build up systems that attract and support continued growth and a thriving population.