Montana Leads Nation in People Moving in for Retirement

I saw a story from earlier this week by Glenn Woods in Wyoming. You might call it bad news for Wyoming. Then again, you might consider it really good news if you live in Wyoming.

Glenn reported that, according to national rankings, Wyoming ranked higher in the list when it comes to people who are moving FROM Wyoming rather than than the list of people moving TO Wyoming. (Although, in general, the report shows Wyoming as a "high inbound" state)

After reading Woods' report, I wondered what the numbers had to say about Montana. According to a United Van Lines press release:

For retirement, Montana and Delaware experienced more inbound moves than any other state at 41%, followed by Florida (39%) and South Carolina (38.5%). Minnesota led the list of states people moved to for family (41%), and Wyoming was the top state for a lifestyle change with an inbound percentage upwards of 29. More people migrated to Nebraska (72%) for a new job or job transfer than any other state, and more people moved to Idaho (11%) due to the cost of living than any other state.

Here's what else is interesting. According to the United Van Lines data, a majority of the people who moved to Montana reported incomes of $150,000 or more.

Here's a look at their primary reason for moving into Montana versus out of Montana:

INBOUND
41.11% retirement
4.44% health
26.67% family
18.89% lifestyle
21.11% job
OUTBOUND
17.07% retirement
10.98% health
40.24% family
18.29% lifestyle
25.61% jobs

When it comes to percentages, 51.2% of movers were inbound to Montana, while 48.8% were outbound. The United Van Lines report also notes:

Throughout the pandemic in 2020, major metropolitan areas and hotspots, such as New York City (72%), Newark (72%) and Chicago (69%), experienced greater outbound migration, while lower-density cities like Wilmington, North Carolina (79%) and Boise, Idaho (75%) saw high levels of inbound moves.

Here's the full map with state by state numbers:

Source: Montana Leads Nation in People Moving in for Retirement

Filed Under: featured

Categories: Articles