People Still Moving to D.C.
United Van Lines truck from 1956. Photo by Roadsidepictures.

United Van Lines truck from 1956. Photo by Roadsidepictures.

The D.C. blogs have all been posting this factoid from the United Van Lines company: 63.6% of its moves in the District were inbound, making only 36.4% of its moves outbound. That’s the most inbound moves of any state, with Michigan pulling up the rear at around 70% of moves leaving the state. It also marks D.C.’s second consecutive year topping the list.

Of course, this is about as unscientific a poll as could be. This is based on 61,000 moves by one company. While we’ll have to wait for the census for real data, in the meantime I’d love to know the relative volumes of moves (perhaps adjusted for population) of the states. D.C. has always seemed like a particularly transient city to me, and I think that these moving numbers mean something different if there are huge flows of people in and out or just a steady stream of new residents moving in.

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