CALIFORNIA—The rental company U-Haul revealed on January 4 that more of its trucks left than entered the state of California than any other state in the year 2020.

In the company’s 2020 migration report, U-Haul stated that “the Bay Area and New York City were among the most prevalent out-migration markets” in America last year.

In 2019, San Francisco had “more U-Haul trucks entering the city than leaving it,” but things changed in 2020 when SF became “the epicenter of the Bay Area’s exodus,” according to the report.

U-Haul indicated that people leaving the Bay Area chose new “destination cities” in and out of California. Within the state, people previously living in the Bay Area moved to Stockton, San Diego, and the Sacramento/Roseville corridor.

Outside of California, people who previously lived in the Bay Area relocated to New Mexico, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, Texas, Utah, Washington, Colorado, and Arizona.

U-Haul lists 25 cities as “growth cities.” The only city on that list from California is Sacramento/Roseville, which is listed at number 11.

The state of Tennessee had the “largest net gain of U-Haul trucks crossing its borders in 2020, making it the No. 1 U-Haul growth state for the first time,” the report highlights.

Jeff Porter, the President of U-Haul Company of Nashville, says that he is “seeing a lot of people from California” relocating to the state of Tennessee because “they’re attracted to our lifestyle,” the report quoted.

In addition, Porter believes that the Coronavirus pandemic has impacted things saying “the situation has pushed a lot more people away from the West Coast” to Tennessee.

Tennessee is their destination in part because the state has “no income tax and is very business-friendly,” Porter noted.

Toward the end of the report, U-Haul explains that data is gathered from “more than 2 million one-way U-Haul truck-sharing transactions that occur annually” and “releases its growth cities and growth states rankings and reports” every January “to recap” the previous year.

Founded in 1945 by L.S. “Sam” Shoen and his wife, Anna Mary Party Shoen, U-Haul is the “largest rental fleet in the do-it-yourself moving industry” with its headquarters located in Phoenix, Arizona.

According to U-Haul, the company has about 22,000 locations in the United States and Canada and is the “largest installer of permanent trailer hitches in the automotive aftermarket industry” as well as the “largest retailer of propane” in America.

When reached for comment, U-Haul did not respond to the San Francisco News inquiries before print.