Colorado trails only Texas as a relocation destination, according to a report released Monday by Allied Van Lines.

Households arriving in Colorado last year via the moving company totaled 2,190, compared with 1,786 departing families, creating a net gain of 404.

Texas ranked No. 1 in the company’s moving index, with a net increase of 1,640 households.

Analysts cited Colorado’s quality of life and relatively low unemployment rate as reasons that more people are moving to the state than are moving out.

Colorado’s unemployment rate in November was 8.6 percent, compared with the national rate of 9.8 percent.

But experts warned that Colorado’s pace of job creation is still sluggish and could leave newly relocated residents with fewer employment prospects than they expected.

The gain in net migration is “a two- sided sword,” said Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.

“It shows how attractive Colorado can be to recruit new workers,” he said. “But when the state is lagging in job creation, in the near term, it keeps unemployment rates higher.”

Although Colorado added jobs for three consecutive months from September through November, the unemployment rate rose in each of those months. That’s because a number of long-term unemployed, who aren’t tracked in state and federal reports, have begun to look for jobs, boosting the unemployment tally.

State demographer Elizabeth Garner said the Allied report reflects similar trends in data from federal agencies.

“As the U.S. (economy) recovers, people will follow jobs,” she said. “Historically, we tend to have higher levels of net migration when our unemployment is lower than the U.S. and vice versa when our unemployment is higher than the U.S.”

Colorado in 2009 ranked fourth in the Allied report behind Texas, Arizona and North Carolina.

Business and personal relocations to Colorado are on the upswing, said Kevin Beckstead, chief executive of Bailey’s Moving & Storage, an Allied affiliate in Colorado.

“Colorado has a very entrepreneurial atmosphere that attracts the interest of out-of-state corporations looking to move facilities into our state to take advantage of the great workforce, the lifestyle desirability and the business-friendly atmosphere,” Beckstead said.

Steve Raabe: 303-954-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com

Destination: Colorado

Households moving to Colorado via Allied Van Lines outnumbered those departing in 2010. States with the greatest net change:

1. Texas, 1,640

2. Colorado, 404

3. Florida, 378

4. South Carolina, 374

5. Arizona, 370

46. New York, -445

47. New Jersey, -699

48. Pennsylvania, -972

49. Illinois, -1,050

50. Michigan, -1,149