U.S. Renters Migrate Toward Feeder Cities

It’s no secret that the pandemic upended the economy and changed people's lives, especially when it came to their migration habits. Given the opportunity to work from home, it allowed people to move from busy, congested, and virus-ridden urban areas to smaller, less populated areas that allowed them to find properties with more space and a slower pace of life. 

Even as the pandemic began to wane in 2021, people were still increasingly on the move last year. According to new migration pattern research from StorageCafe, renter interest grew stronger, with a 10% increase in renter applications in 2021 versus 2020. Some big urban hubs still attracted large renter cohorts, but smaller cities nearby stole the limelight as preferred destinations for apartment hunters. 

To this end, the analysts at StorageCafe looked into 3.4 million rental applications from RentGrow from 2021, illustrating renter interest across 257 markets across the U.S. with populations of over 100,000. From their application data, they were able to determine the most popular migration destinations for renters, their demographics, square footage, and average income. 

Two cities in Texas, Irving and Lewisville, both suburbs of Dallas and Fort Worth, claimed the top two spots for the most popular spots to migrate to as a renter. This was followed by Orlando, Florida; Arlington, Virginia; and Palm Bay, Florida. 

“Texas has been making headlines as a primary relocation destination for Californians. It is in fact attracting people from across the country, being the most popular state for state-to-state moves,” said Francis Chantree, the author of the report. “Approx. 10.4% of all those interested in changing their residence for an out-of-state location, chose Texas. Florida, in second place, attracted 8.6%.” 

“With a strong economy and a growing housing market, which is also more affordable than many other in-demand regions, it’s no wonder the Dallas-Fort Worth area emerges as the most popular renter destination for Americans. Aside from two Dallas area feeder cities being the most popular places for renters based on our analysis of net migration as a percentage of population, Big D itself lands in the top 20 and Denton, in the north of the DFW metro, gets 24th place overall.” 

Millennial renters are the generation most likely to make a move between states, making up 37% of the total number of the state-to-state migrating renters, with Gen Zers the next largest cohort at 30%. And they are often choosing states that don't appear on the radar so regularly. 

The most popular destinations for interstate moves are: South Dakota, Maine, North Dakota, Illinois, and Nevada. 

“Traditionally losing ground to more hyped states on the East and West coasts, US prairie states such as North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska have been intent on amping up their appeal in recent times,” Chantree said. “The Dakotas both saw double the number of incoming renters than outgoers, with Maine the only other state registering the same high figure.” 

“In fact, the Great Plains city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, achieved the highest ratio in the entire country of inbound versus outbound migration, almost four to one. Also in the top 10 in this respect is another Great Plains city, Lincoln, Nebraska, which saw two and a half times as many incoming renters as leavers in 2021—and they were all millennials and Gen Zers, so the communities here can look forward to an increasingly youthful ambiance. The migration patterns of renters solely from out of state sees Nevada, Colorado and Arizona joining the Great Plains states, with around two and a half times more renters coming in from other states as leaving.” 

Click here to see a full copy of StorageCafe’s findings, including interactive maps and rankings of the top cities and states for inbound migration.