Folks from SC are moving to these places the most, new U-Haul report says

It’s a little more than two weeks until Labor Day and many schools are back in session around South Carolina, which means the busiest time for moving is coming to an end.

Nearly half of all residential moves in the U.S. are made between Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends each year.

Where did everyone go? U-Haul has an answer.

For South Carolinians, the No. 1 place was Charlotte, according to U-Haul’s midyear growth report issued recently.

In its annual report issued in January, U-Haul found that South Carolina led the nation in population gains. Of all the people renting U-Hauls in 2024, more than 51.7% were arrivals, the report showed.

South Carolina was fourth in 2023.

The cities that grew the most were Myrtle Beach, Spartanburg, Charleston-North Charleston and Greenville.

“Many of the largest U.S. metros are in growth mode — a change from what was seen following the COVID-19 pandemic when people took advantage of remote work and migrated to less-crowded markets,” the U-Haul press release said. “More recently, big cities and their expanding suburbs are back to greeting a robust inflow of U-Haul equipment.”

After South Carolina, the states with the most growth thanks to U-Haul in 2024 were Texas, North Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee.

The 48.3% of people who rented a U-Haul to leave South Carolina went to areas growing the most in the country, three of them in Florida.

They places the moved to were:

• Charlotte — U-Haul said South Carolina was the top origin state and three of the top five cities were in South Carolina — Columbia, Greenville and Charleston.
• Atlanta — South Carolina ranked 5th in people moving to Atlanta.
• Miami — South Carolina ranked 6th in people moving to Baltimore.
• Orlando — South Carolina tied with Miami for 6th.
• Tampa — South Carolina ranked 7th in people moving to Tampa.
• Baltimore — South Carolina ranked 10th in people moving to Baltimore.
• Washington, D.C. — Also 10th.

This story was originally published August 13, 2025 at 6:00 AM.