Mayflower Survey Shows Idaho Top Choice for Relocation

Mayflower surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. adults who moved more than 300 miles from July 2019 to July 2021. (Mayflower)

A new survey by moving company Mayflower shows the top five state destinations where the company is moving customers are Idaho, South Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee and Florida.

The top five cities for moves include Sarasota, Fla., Wilmington, N.C., Fort Myers-Cape Coral, Fla., Santa Fe, N.M., and Boise, Idaho.

“There’s no place like home — but how do you find ‘home’ after relocating?” the company asked its customers. “The new customer data and survey findings by St. Louis-based Mayflower reveals how Americans are defining their identities in new places amid the great reshuffling across the nation.” 

The survey was conducted for Mayflower by True Global Intelligence, the in-house research practice of FleishmanHillard. It surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. adults who moved more than 300 miles from July 2019 to July 2021. The results are representative of the U.S. population by gender, generation and U.S. Census region, the company said.

There’s no place like home But how do you find “home” after a move? Read on to find out where people are moving and how location shapes our identities. https://t.co/hXTyxgnLDm — Mayflower Moving (@MayflowerMoving) October 18, 2021

The survey data, made public Oct. 18, revealed nearly three-fourths of Americans (74%) believe they have a hometown, while 58% think of their hometown as the place they come from. About 42% think of their hometown as the place they’re currently living.

The survey also showed that:

• Millennials (76%) are the most likely generation to consider moving back to a city they lived in before, compared with 66% of Gen X, 59% of Gen Z and just 37% baby boomers.

• Nearly half (48%) of movers say the proximity to arts and culture venues helped influence where they moved to. Notably, this is higher among men than women (57% vs. 39%) and among Gen Z (58%) and Millennials (65%) compared with boomers (26%).

• Those in the Northeast (61%) are significantly more likely to cite arts and culture venues as an influence compared with the South (46%), West (45%) and Midwest (44%).

• About two thirds (67%) indicate the weather as a top influence, followed by proximity to parks, green spaces and nature trails (61%).