Montanans Among the Least Interested in Relocating

Earlier this week we saw a report saying more people moved out of Montana than in for 2023. Now, a different report is saying that Montana is one state where people are least likely to leave.

Can both be true at the same time or is this Montana's eternal and existential debate?

Let's recap: 

• Last summer, we hypothesized that Montana's fifteen minutes of fame were coming to an end.
• By last fall, there was evidence that Montana was still in the spotlight.
• But in January we learned that Montana didn't make the list of where people were moving most, and the same source indicated that more people moved out of Montana than into it in 2023. 

The Latest: 

The storage company Storage.com used Google search data to analyze Americans' interest in relocating. Based on the search volume of key terms, the states where people were the most interested in moving were:

• #5 Georgia
• #4 Michigan
• #3 Arizona
• #2 Florida
• #1 Colorado

But the states where people were least interested in moving were: 

• #5 Louisiana
• #4 Montana
• #3 Mississippi
• #2 Hawaii
• #1 Alaska

Wait, What? 

Montana had more people moving out, but also, Montanans are ranked high for wanting to stay where they are.

"Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics"

It's important to note that the conflicting information was collected by a moving company and a storage company using Google Search data. Depending on how and when the data was run, it would likely present different results.

Get our free mobile app

The most reliable data probably comes from the United States Census. Here are the Montana population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau Population Division for the last couple of years:

• 2020: 1,087,211
• 2021: 1,106,366
• 2022: 1,122,878
• 2023: 1,132,812

Regardless of the moving data, Montana gained almost 10,000 people between 2022 and 2023.

And I'm guessing they probably won't want to leave.