Data Shows Huntsville Experiencing a Surge in “Move-Ins”

2021 began what has been called “The Great Reshuffle” in American moving trends.

More than four million Americans quit their jobs in 17 of the last 19 months.

Over this same period, Americans are leaving pricey locations in exchange for more affordability, heading to destinations where the average home costs almost a quarter less than in the cities losing the most residents.

Why is this trend continuing through 2022 and where are people moving?

A new report from moveBuddha, an online source for every resource imaginable regarding moving companies and moving trends, shows that the Southeast, Alabama and Huntsville specifically are experience a historical surge regarding “move ins.”

Their data shows that remote work is becoming a staple of American work lives.

According to their report, “Employees are demanding even more remote flexibility than they were in 2021, with 23% more employees saying they’d leave a company if they weren’t given long-term remote options. And because a labor shortage still means fewer workers available than before the pandemic, more workers can successfully negotiate working from a tropical isle (or from a city where inflation and rising interest rates hurt a little less).”

With this continued focus on remote working, more people than ever have been leaving large, urban cities as housing prices boiled over and the pandemic subsided. Where were Americans looking to move in 2022?

According to the report from moveBuddha that uses an into-out move ration to compare moves into an area and moves out of an area, more people were looking tomove to Alabama than ever before.

MoveBuddha compiled this report using internet search data. The in-to-out ratio measures the number of searches for moves in compared to the number of searches for moves out of a given state (moves in ÷ moves out = into-out ratio).

An in-to-out ratio greater than 1 indicates higher inflow than outflow.

According to moveBuddha's analysis, using an in-to-out move ratio, the data shows that

Alabama saw in:

2021: 129 searches for moves

By Noah Logan / Graphics courtesy of moveBuddha

in for every 100 out 2022: 150 searches for moves in for every 100 out.

That is a year-over-year increase of 20% of the in-to-out ratio.

That 20% increase in move interest places Alabama at the #4 spot for highest surge in interest from movers in 2022. And while a year-over-year surge or increase indicates which cities are performing better than in years past, it doesn't paint the picture for which cities are drawing the most moves in.

By looking at the highest in-to-out move ratio the data from moveBuddha can estimate which cities have seen the most significant inflow. By this measure — Huntsville, Alabama ranks #16 in the nation for highest inflow, nationwide. w