A West Valley city was among the hottest destinations where people were moving last year, according to the latest annual ranking from U-Haul International Inc.
Surprise ranked No. 18 among the top U.S. growth cities in 2021, and Arizona maintained its spot from a year earlier as the No. 5 state for move-ins, according to data released Jan. 3 by the moving and storage giant.
Phoenix-based U-Haul, part of Amerco, collects migration data from more than 2 million one-way truck trips every year. It ranks the top "growth states" and "growth cities" by net gain, which contrasts the number of one-way U-Haul trucks entering a city/market versus those leaving. U-Haul looked at data from the 2021 calendar year for 49 states — Hawaii was excluded — and the District of Columbia.
The data showed that U-Haul customers coming to Arizona rose more than 6% year-over-year, while departures were up 4%. Arriving customers accounted for 50.4% of all one-way U-Haul traffic in Arizona during 2021.
The company said that Arizona has been the favorite destination of U-Haul customers among all states west of Texas for two years.
