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A whopping 69% of all New Jersey residents who moved from March 1 to Aug. 19 relocated out of state, UniGroup reports. That’s just about 7 of every 10.
New York is close behind at 67%, with Connecticut fourth at 64%.
Residents from New Jersey and New York mostly moved to suburbs and smaller towns in Florida, Texas and other Sunbelt states between March and July, Bloomberg reported.
Vermont, Idaho, Oregon and South Carolina are also big draws.
Why?
Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, told Bloomberg that it’s due to “a fear of living in densely populated areas, a realization that the ‘old normal’ of commuting into a city office is still but a distant possibility, and the realization that remote work can be an effective, long-term option.”
Folks, as a result, are fleeing central cities for more wide open spaces.
Two-thirds of United Van Lines’ moves in New Jersey and New York have been to other states, Bloomberg reported.
A Pew Research Center survey found that one in five residents said they moved or know someone who moved due to the pandemic.
The highest age group to relocate were adults ages 18 to 29 (9%), the survey found. Job losses and college housing shutdowns were mostly to blame.
Overall, 28% said they mostly wanted to reduce their risk of contracting the virus, while 23% said it was because their college campus closed and 20% said it was to be closer to family, according to the PRC survey. Then there was job loss (8%) or other financial reasons (10%).
Six of every 10 respondents said they’d gone to live with a family member – including 41% who moved in with their parents or in-laws, 4% who moved in with an adult child or in-law and 16% who moved in with another relative, Pew reported.
There were also those who relocated to a second or vacation home. Some others, the survey found, moved in with a friend.
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