COLORADO SPRINGS — Data from the moving company UHaul suggests Colorado was one of the top states in 2020 their customers were moving to, rather than moving from.
Colorado ranked number six on UHaul’s list of its top growth states for 2020. The list compiles UHaul customer destination data and ranks states based on how many more trucks came to a state, rather than left a state in 2020.
The only states to finish ahead of Colorado were Tennessee, Texas, Florida, Ohio and Arizona.
On top of that, UHaul ranked Colorado Springs among its top 25 growth cities for 2020, reporting over half of its trucks on the road in the Colorado Springs area are driven by people moving to the area from elsewhere.
Of the rest of UHaul’s trucks on the road in the Springs area, the company reported most were driven by people making local moves, rather than moving out of the area altogether.
“Really people are moving here because they want to be here,” said Dave Hellmers, Marketing Company President for UHaul of Southern Colorado.
He welcomes the newcomers with open arms.
“It has been great,” Hellmers said.
His job overseeing UHaul’s southern Colorado operation just keeps growing.
“Even in the past seven years, the southern Colorado company has actually doubled,” he said.
“When people are living somewhere and they’re like, huh, Colorado Springs. I’ve heard good things,” said Cecilia Harry, Chief Economic Development officer of the Colorado Springs Chamber and EDC.
UHaul’s metric is one local economic leaders like Harry find particularly intriguing.
“There’s sometimes no better indicator of what’s going on than consumer behavior patterns,” Harry said. “You can infer a lot from that. They’re moving here. This is not a vacation. They’re staying here.”
And the trend stretches far beyond just the big cities in our state.
“I see this in, not just like Falcon, Colorado or Colorado Springs, Colorado. But of course Durango, Pagosa Springs, Pueblo West,” Hellmers said.
It’s a side benefit of advancing technology.
“Because of telecommuting, people can live wherever they want,” he said. “So why not Colorado?”
