Another Gov. Murphy Legacy: United Van Lines Ranks NJ Last for Outmigration for Every Year of His Two Terms. Will Gov. Sherrill Be Different?

United Van Lines (UVL) and U-Haul came out with their 2025 annual surveys, and once again New Jersey ranks as one of the states with the most people leaving.  Nationally, the “blue” to “red” state migration continues, and we know New Jersey is a very blue state. In fact, the UVL has ranked New Jersey dead last for outmigration for eight years in a row — that is, dead last for every year of Gov. Murphy’s two terms. Once again the UVL data shows that a large number of the New Jersey leavers are older, higher-income retirees, so wealth also continues to leave New Jersey for lower-tax, lower cost-of-living states — mainly in the south. As a staunch defender of New Jersey’s government-union-dominated status quo, Gov. Murphy did very little to stop this negative trend. Will the “affordability”-focused Gov. Sherrill do anything different?

UVL: New Jersey dead last for eight years in a row. In UVL’s 49th Annual National Movers Study, New Jersey was once again dead last when it came the percentage of movers leaving the state– for the 8th year in a row.  That means New Jersey has been dead last for every year of Gov. Murphy’s two terms. Overall, 62.3% of movers left New Jersey versus 37.7% coming in.  Once again, the main reason given for leaving the state was retirement (25.2% of leavers), which means that the older and wealthier cohorts are leaving New Jersey.

This is borne out in the UVL data.  Two-thirds of New Jersey leavers were 55 or older, and three-quarters had incomes over $100,000, which is the same as last year.  All told, there were almost twice as many $100,000-earners leaving NJ than coming in — also the same as last year.

UVL describes the national trend: “Americans are moving to lower density, more affordable regions … ” And we all know that New Jersey is not an affordable state. Just ask our newly-elected governor, Mikie Sherrill, who ran on an “affordability” platform.

Same news from U-Haul. Of course, not everyone chooses to use — or can afford — a moving company like UVL. Many Americans choose to DIY with companies like U-Haul.  But U-Haul’s 2025 study tells a similar story for NJ:  NJ had the 3rd-worst net loss of people, the same ranking as 2024.

Indeed, the top three states were TX, FL, and NC.  The bottom three were CA, IL, and NJ. Deep blue CA has been dead last for six years in a row.

People and wealth are fleeing “blue” states for more affordable “red” states. U-Haul explains the longstanding national trend: “Blue-to-red state migration … continues to be a discernible trend.” Both the UVL and U-Haul data show that people and wealth are leaving “blue” states with big governments, powerful public-sector unions, higher taxes, and higher costs of living.  They are moving to “red” states with smaller governments, less powerful public-sector unions, lower taxes, and lower costs of living.  

And we all know New Jersey is a very “blue” state.  It’s very clear that when confronted with an unchangeable, unaffordable, government-union-dominated status quo, New Jerseyans are voting with their feet. As a staunch defender of this malign status quo, Gov. Murphy did almost nothing to stop this negative trend. Will the “affordability”-focused Gov. Sherrill do anything different?