A large number of residents fled the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area amid the COVID-19 pandemic – more than any region in the country, reveals a worrying survey by a moving company.
United Van Line’s annual change survey for 2020 revealed that New Jersey leads all states with 70% of the people involved in the move fleeing the Garden State, while only 30% move.
New York State came in second with Illinois – with departures accounting for 67% of all moves between March and October.
Not far behind was neighbor Connecticut, where 63% of all changes were residents who left Nutmeg.
But the exodus to the greater New York metropolitan area was even worse.
In Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, 81 percent of movements through United Van Lines were one-way trips – up from 74 percent in 2019 – tied for Bergen-Passaic counties across the Hudson in Jersey.
New York City was tied with Newark, NJ, among the largest cities – with residents leaving for 72% of all trips, while only 28% were arrivals.
This was the fourth largest among all locations in the country.
And that’s from 2019, when 62% of the Big Apple moving firm’s travels were for residents leaving the state.
Counties and cities in the metropolitan region occupied the top five places for fleeing residents.
Trenton was just behind the counties of Long Island and Bergen-Passaic – with those who left the city accounting for 76% of all trips.
The United Van Lines survey backs up data from the United States postal service and previous reports from moving companies showing New Yorkers heading for exits, including Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where residents complained about declining quality of life.
New York lawmakers were alarmed by the exodus.
“The number of residents leaving Nassau is directly related to the county’s high property taxes … This poses a serious threat to our county and region.” said the President of the Nassau County Legislature, Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park).
A worrying problem for the New York-New Jersey state and counties is that about half of the residents who fled were high-income people who generated tax revenues. The United Van Lines survey found that 49% of families departing Garden State and 45% of families in New York State had an annual income of $ 150,000 or more.
The report found that Idaho led the country with the highest influx of residents – with arrivals accounting for 70 percent of travel, – followed by South Carolina (64%), Oregon (63%), South Dakota (62%) and Arizona (62%).
As for the metropolitan areas, Wilmington, NC, led the country as the main destination, with arrivals accounting for 79% of trips, followed by Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida (78%); Boise, Idaho (75%); Huntsville, Ala. (70%); and Fort Meyers-Cape Coral, Florida (69%).
The coronavirus pandemic played a disproportionate role in the exodus from the metropolitan region, said population experts and the moving company.
“United Van Lines data makes it clear that migration to the western and southern states, a pattern that has been prevalent in recent years, persisted in 2020,” said Michael Stoll, economist and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.
“However,” he added, “we are seeing that the COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly accelerated broader trends in change, including retirement driving the main entry regions as the Baby Boomer generation continues to reach the next phase of life.
United Van Lines spokeswoman Eily Cummings said COVID-19 had a “resounding impact” on change choices last year.
“As more people experience changes in work and lifestyle in the midst of the pandemic, such as remote work, we see that they have more flexibility about where they can live – many choosing to move from urban to more rural areas,” she said.
But US and city census data also reveal that the Big Apple population started to plummet before the pandemic hit the region last year.