Report: Tennessee Jumps from Number 12 to Number 5 in U-Haul's Top Growth States for 2017

Tennessee weighed in as the Number Five Growth State, according data released by rental giant U-Haul. The top-five status represents another huge gain in ranking over the last three years of reporting.

Of all the one-way U-Haul traffic in Tennessee, the statement reports that arriving trucks made for a whopping 50.3 percent – catapulting its ranking seven spots in one year. Tennessee came in at number 12 in 2016 and was number 34 in 2015.

Jeff Porter, U-Haul Company of Nashville president said, “We have no state income tax, beautiful weather and Southern hospitality. Growth isn’t restricted to Nashville, either. We’re seeing job growth everywhere. Nashville has started to grow up rather than out. There are new condos and high-rises. The Gulch is an up-and-coming community downtown. The district has an industrial history but has become a hot spot for the younger generation.”

The areas within Tennessee that saw the most “incoming” activity are: Maryville, Murfreesboro, Columbia, Lebanon, Athens, Clarksville, Oak Ridge and Brentwood paced Tennessee’s net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks.

The company said that Kingsport, Collierville and Franklin were among other notable cities to post strong net gains.

U-Haul calculates their annual ‘Growth State’ list by observing the net gain of one-way U-Haul truck rentals entering a state versus leaving a state during a calendar year to identify the migration trends over the course of 1.7 million one-way rentals.

Texas was the No. 1 Growth State for the second year in a row, the company reported:

Florida, Arkansas and South Carolina slotted just in front of Tennessee, and North Carolina ranked seventh, continuing a strong growth movement in the Southeast. California overtook Illinois on the list as the biggest net-loss state.

The do-it-yourself movers are quick to point out that “migration trends do not correlate directly to population or economic growth, U-Haul growth data is an effective gauge of how well states and cities are attracting and maintaining residents.”

Knoxville-area U-Haul Company president Pat Spencer said, “The housing market (in Metro Knoxville) is on fire. My family recently moved and we couldn’t even find a house. We had to build one. These houses hit the market and are gone in a day. They are building condos downtown and in the city centers, just like other major metro areas, but there are also many retirees moving to the outskirts of town.”

The Top Ten ‘U-Haul Growth State’ winners for 2017 are: