UPDATE: See the amazing new moving trends for 2019.

Dear readers, as you know, each year, the team behind MyMovingReviews illustrates the hot trends in the moving and real estate industries. This is the fifth year in a row we do that and because of the overwhelmingly great feedback, we did something extra special for our readers – we added some animations and comparisons between our last year’s moving trends. Feel free to share that infographic and spread the word.

When did Americans move the most? What were the most desired destinations? How much did the move cost on average? Now, let’s find out the answers of those questions and see how the moving trends have changed.

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You want this awesome data visualization on your website? Just copy the code below and paste it in your website:



<p align="center"><img src="https://cloud.mymovingreviews.com/move/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/moving-trends-2016-stats-mymovingreviews.gif" title="Moving Industry Trends: 2016 Annual Relocation Data Stats Survey" width="680" height="7332" /><br /> Moving Trends: 2016 Annual Relocation Data Survey by <a href="https://www.mymovingreviews.com" target="_blank">MyMovingReviews</a>.</p>

Enjoy the same statistical data in the form of a slideshow. Feel free to embed it on your own website or blog using the code below.

Here’s the embed code for the slideshow. Simply copy/paste it on your page.



Moving Trends 2016: Annual Moving Industry Snapshot from MyMovingReviews.com from

For this moving industry snapshot we used only data from our own database:

107 298 moving quote requests.

22 682 reviews on moving companies.

Check out the moving trends from previous years: 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012.

Move Distance

The majority of people who have requested a moving quote online have relocated to another state – actually 60.47% of the Americans have crossed a state border.

However, when it comes to shipping their cars, fewer people have chosen to ship their vehicles this year – we are seeing a slight decline.

Move Sizes

1 Bedroom – 25.10%

2 Bedrooms – 23.35%

3 Bedrooms – 16.84%

Partial Move – 15.69%

4+ Bedrooms – 10.10%

Studio – 8.92%

It turns out that the size of the shipments has increased over this year, which is definitely good for businesses. There has been a decline of almost 14% in 1-bedroom moves, whereas there has been an increase in 2, 3 and 4-bedroom moves. People are moving move furniture into their new homes and are looking for bigger real estate properties to buy. Also, more people have looked for a professional mover to just move single items in 2016. Click here to learn everything there is to know about moving small loads.

Move Days

Friday – 19.45%

Saturday – 17.69%

Monday – 17.61%

Wednesday – 14.26%

Thursday – 13.34%

Tuesday – 11.32%

Sunday – 6.33%

Things haven’t changed much when it comes to choosing a moving day. Friday is the busiest day in the industry. We are seeing a slight decline in Sunday moves. After all, Sunday is the day to have a break, right?

The busiest day in the moving industry this year has been June 30th. August 1st and June 30th have been the second and third busiest days. Choosing the right moving day matters more than you think!

Busiest Months to Move

June – 13.91%

July – 12.60%

August – 11.39%

May – 10.15%

September – 8.58%

October – 8.08%

April – 8.00%

March – 7.17%

November – 6.64%

February – 5.91%

January – 4.25%

December – 3.31%

We are seeing an increase in the moves during spring and early fall, and a decrease in the summer moves. And although summer still accounts for the largest amount of moves during the year, it turns out that more Americans have decided to postpone their moves for the fall or move before the busy season.

Moves within the City Limits

When it comes to moving within the city or its metro area, well, New Yorkers seem to enjoy moving a lot. Chicago, Houston, L.A. and Miami are the next cities whose residents are the most mobile, but they still prefer to rent an apartment or buy a home within city limits. It’s no surprise as those are some of the largest and most densely populated areas.

Moving Within the State

The ten states where people have moved the most locally are: CA, FL, TX, NJ, IL, NY, MD, MI, GA and MA.

We do not see any significant changes in the first four positions from the last year – CA, FL, TX and NJ are still the most popular states for local moves. This year Illinois has made it into the Top 5, and Ohio hasn’t made it into the Top 10. Maryland seems to have become a hot market lately – taking Position 7 in 2016.

Move Routes

Based on our data mining, these are the average move prices for the most popular one way moving routes:

CA – TX – $3274

NY – FL – $3273

NY – CA – $3789

MA – NY – $2604

CA – WA – $3411

Moving to a new state? We have the perfect guide just for you!

We see the same trend here – western and southern states continue to allure more new residents. However, in 2016 we are seeing a drop in the moves to California. In fact, the most popular route was out of the Golden State. New Yorkers still love moving to Florida. And it seems that Washington has become more attractive, especially for Californians.

What’s the average moving price? Seeing the average cost per route, it turns out that a move in 2016 has cost between $2600 and $3700.

Migration Flows

States with the most immigrants: Florida, Texas, North Carolina, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, South Carolina, Georgia, Nevada;

Compared to the year of 2015, there are no radical changes in the top states to move to. We are seeing a little change in the different positions but the 10 most popular states for moving remain the same, with Florida and Texas being on top.

States with the most out-migrants: Illinois, New York, New Jersey, California, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Michigan;

It turns out that Ohio has dropped off the chart and California has become a less attractive place to move to – it’s the fourth state with the most out-migrants. And this year, we have Illinois as the least preferred state to live in.

The ten cities that have gained the most population due to migration are:

Seattle, WA, Denver, CO, Charlotte, NC, Dallas, TX, San Francisco, Austin, TX, Portland, OR, Orlando, FL, Tampa, FL and Atlanta, GA;

This year we have a new winner here in the face of Seattle, WA and four new cities that have made it to the list of top ten desired cities to move to – Charlotte, NC, Orlando and Tampa in Florida, and Atlanta, GA.

The ten cities that have lost the most population due to migration are:

Chicago, IL, New York, NY, Washington DC, Milwaukee, WI, Arlington, VA, Cambridge, MA, San Jose CA, Cleveland, OH, Indianapolis, IN and Pittsburgh, PA;

It seems that we have four new cities that have become less alluring destinations. Cambridge MA, San Jose, CA, Cleveland, OH, and Indianapolis, IN are ones of the cities that have lost more population rather than gain more people in terms of migration.

Update: There has been a mistake in the 2016 trends in the original post. Since then it has been redacted. Please note that originally we have stated that 39.53% of the moves were interstate as in fact this is the percentage or the local moves. The same things happened with the local moves that were reported to be 60.47%, but in fact this is the number of interstate moves. Please excuse us for the inconvenience we may have caused.

The recent migration hype around the elections

Just around the elections we all read news and reports that many people (including celebrities) have decided to move to Canada because of the election results. At MyMovingReviews we saw a small spike of interest regarding moving to Canada and immigration information, but that cooled off quite fast. Overall it was an insignificant trend and less than a week after the results were announced, everything was back to normal.

Looking for the best east coast movers or the top rated west coast movers? Look for them no more.