U-Haul report says Boise was a top city for migration in 2010 

Kit Fitzgerald

The Treasure Valley has become a moving destination of choice in the last year, according to a survey by the moving company U-Haul.

U-Haul International, Inc., named Boise the second-highest “growth city” in the country in its annual national report on migration.

The Phoenix-based moving company compares the proportion of inbound moves and outbound moves to come up with its report. Santa Monica came in first this year, with 20 percent inbound migration. Boise came in second with 11 percent.

Most of the new arrivals are retirees who want to be closer to their grown children, said Idaho realtors and movers. Some retirees reported they chose Boise for its low cost of living and temperate winters, said Kit Fitzgerald, the president-elect of the Ada County Association of Realtors.

“I always hear, ‘it’s affordable,’” Fitzgerald said. “Their money goes a little bit further here.”

Fitzgerald said she and her sales team at Red Barn Real Estate are so busy she expects sales in 2011 to be triple what they were last year.

“Our little team is already responsible for about $2 million in sales, and it’s only February,” Fitzgerald said.  She estimated 60 percent of the people she meets who are moving to Boise are baby boomers who have chosen the Treasure Valley for its quality of life, and to be closer to their children.

She added the baby boomers are often looking for single-level homes with three-car garages – a commodity in short supply in the Treasure Valley.

Doug Pill, corporate account manager for Merchants Moving & Storage, said many of the people who use Merchants are moving to the Treasure Valley to take jobs. The Merchants data didn’t show the same clear inward migration pattern that the U-Haul data did. While the number of families moving into Idaho with Merchants rose last year, in some cases it was lower than the number of families who moved out. For example, migration from California was higher than migration to that economically troubled state. But Texas drew more Idaho families using the services of Merchant than it sent to Idaho.

Overall, migration with Merchants in and out of Idaho was flat in 2010, Pill said – a change from the two previous years, when there was a clear trend of outward migration from Idaho.

U-Haul’s national migration report included only cities with at least 5,000 population. The company compiled its data from more than 1.4 million U-Haul one-way truck transactions.

Pill expects a good year for the moving business.

“January of 2011 was a phenomenal indicator for us,” he said. “And usually January is not a great month.”

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3 Responses to “U-Haul report says Boise was a top city for migration in 2010 ”

1. Bill Says:
   February 17th, 2011 at 4:18 pm

   Why would someone retire in Idaho? they tax your pensions, your 401K, your IRA, your govt retirement (non-Idaho), your social security, your retirement investments, ad nausea. Moreover, since you’re retired and (theoretically/legally) don’t have a great big family to claim as dependents to capture America’s highest state tax dependency exemption (Idaho’s LDS subsidy), they’re going to level the 9th highest income tax rates in America.

   Now if you can buy a place in foreclosure for 50 cents or less on the dollar, on 5.1 acres, you can stick in a sprinkler head & some alfalfa, put up a horse barn, and call it “agricultural”. Then you can get that bogus “ag-property” tax subsidy—go for it.

2. Boise Idaho Homes for Sale Says:
   February 18th, 2011 at 12:12 pm

   This is exactly what I am seeing when talking to builders and interviewing new home owners. One gentleman watched the weather every day for a year and like what he saw. Most people I talk to are following family. Although they are not companies bringing jobs they need services and spend money. Growth is inevitable- People love it here! Builders and Developers are preparing fro growth which will probably not really start to happen this year but it is coming.

3. pandora sale Says:
   May 9th, 2011 at 9:22 pm

   thankssssssssssss