Colorado last year ranked in the top half of all 50 states when it came to in-migration growth, an improvement from 2024, at least according to new-year statistics released by U-Haul on Monday.

However, U-Haul numbers also show nearly as many residents are leaving the Centennial State as there are people moving here.

U-Haul, a do-it-yourself company renting trucks and supplies to movers, annually counts where people are moving to and from most nationwide. The company’s net migration study doesn’t share exact numbers, but where certain metros and cities are ranking for movers.

U-Haul ranks its states based on the net gain of who rented a one-way truck, trailer or U-box. The “U-Haul Growth Index” comprises more than 2.5 million one-way U-Haul transactions counted annually across the U.S. and Canada.

“While rankings may not correlate directly to population or
economic growth, the U-Haul Growth Index is an effective gauge
of how well states, metros and cities are attracting and
maintaining residents,” U-Haul officials said in a news release.

In the release, U-Haul called itself “the authority on migration trends.”

Colorado, in 2025, experienced an in-migration rate of 50.1%, while the out-migration rate was 49.9%. Colorado’s out-migration rate was at 50.3% in 2024, only according to U-Haul numbers.

This ranks the Centennial State at No. 23 for migration growth in 2025 under U-Haul’s count. U-Haul numbers show Colorado jumped 17 states from 2024, when it ranked No. 40 for in-migration.

The study comes a week after President Donald Trump vetoed a plan to finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit,  a long-stalled project to bring clean water to rural parts of southeastern Colorado. The bill had passed both the House and Senate unanimously. Trump cited a moving company study as part of his rationale.

“California and Colorado are two of the TOP OUTBOUND STATES IN 2025 (United Van Lines!) – In other words, PEOPLE LEAVING!!!” Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday. 

A survey by United Van Lines reported 661 more outbound moves than inbound moves from a sample size of 6,633 moves involving Colorado in 2025. That landed Colorado on United Van Lines’ list of top five states for “Highest Outbound Moves” behind New Jersey, New York, California and North Dakota. 

Colorado, U-Haul officials said in the news release, regained “status as a net-gain state with more U-Haul customers coming than going — a claim it has made five of the last six years.”

U-Haul officials said Colorado’s notable growth metros in 2025 included Alamosa, Boulder, Brighton, Buena Vista, Centennial, Commerce City, Denver, Elizabeth, Erie, Fort Collins, Fountain, Greeley, Montrose, Monument, Lafayette, Longmont, Loveland, Pagosa Springs, Steamboat Springs, Thornton, Westminster and Windsor.

Denver is ranked No. 20 for “leading U.S. growth metros,” according to U-Haul’s online growth index.

The top five growth states last year were Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina. Texas has been the top state for in-migration for seven of the last 10 years, U-Haul officials said.

California, for the sixth year in a row, experienced the largest net loss of one-way U-Haul customers. U-Haul officials said states that saw the largest out-migration included Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Illinois.

During the 2010s, Colorado experienced hundreds of thousands of new residents moving in, a trend that slowed into the new decade, according to a Common Sense Institute study released in February 2024.

The CSI study showed that, between 2020 and 2023, Colorado averaged a net gain of 6,645 people annually moving in. Between 2013 and 2020, that number averaged at 41,540 people moving to the Centennial State each year.

The Denver Gazette’s news partners 9NEWS contributed to this report.