Was this story on your bingo card for 2022? People are apparently leaving California in such large amounts that U-Haul ran out of trucks. Residents of the Golden State have packed up moving trucks and headed to states with fewer taxes, fewer rules, and fewer people.

U-Haul trucks couldn’t keep up with the demand for people moving

The recent U-Haul Growth Index is out and had some interesting surprises inside. U-Haul noted that 2021 was the year of moves, most notably out of California and into Texas. “Migration to southern states continues to be magnified by the lingering pandemic, and no state netted more U-Haul customers during the last year than Texas,” U-Haul said.

Texas was a close second to Florida, which saw a large influx of people heading toward the sunshine state. After Texas and Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Arizona were popular new spots. U-Haul determined this with transactional data compiled from one-way U-Haul truck rentals.

According to U-Haul, over two million one-way truck rentals occur annually. This means a truck rented through the company entered into the state and did not leave again in the same calendar year.

California was the number one state people left in a U-Haul truck this year

According to the transactional data, the most U-Haul trucks left California this year and did not return. Second on the list was Illinois. Exactly how many people moved out of California last year? Too many to count. California ranked the top state for leaving, but U-Haul ran out of trucks to help people get out. Due to the lack of inventory, the actual number of people who left can’t be calculated.

“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 opportunity here. The cost of living here is much lower than those areas. Texas is open for business.”

Matt Merrill | U-Haul Area District Vice President of the Dallas Fort-Worth Metroplex and West Texas

People in California have tired of the high cost of living and have decided to go elsewhere. In 2020, it was the top state for leaving. In 2021, so many people left that U-Haul couldn’t get everyone out in a timely fashion.

Sorry California, your time has come

California has long been one of the most popular places to live in the country, but its time has come. With so many COVID-19 (coronavirus) restrictions, people got tired of being inside and headed to greener pastures in U-Haul trucks. According to a study by the California Policy Lab, fewer people are moving to California every year. The study shows that people moving to “California were 38% lower than at the end of March 2020.”

Some of the most expensive areas were the most prone to people moving out. Places like San Francisco, Santa Clara, and San Mateo saw a decline of people moving into the area by 48-53%. Some residents were simply tired of the high prices and decided to check out another state entirely. While the automotive industry recovers from the semiconductor chip shortage, California has its own shortage of incoming residents to worry about.