by Rob Roper
The moving company, United Van Lines (UVL), had some good news for Vermont in its 2017 survey of who’s moving to where, and who’s moving from where. They reported, “Vermont had the highest percentage of inbound migration in 2017 with nearly 68 percent of moves to and from the state being inbound.” This didn’t seem to jibe with Census numbers showing Vermont as being one of only three states to experience an actual population decline, so Bill Sayre and Rob Roper interviewed Michael Stoll of UVL on Common Sense Radio.
Stoll pointed out that the UVL survey was not scientific and was limited to just UVL customers. It did not account for people who used do-it-yourself services such as U-Haul or those who use their own vehicles to move. UVL is a full service, and relatively expensive moving service. Stoll confirmed that the Census numbers are a more reliable measure of what’s really happening in the big picture.
Stoll also revealed some interesting information that was not part of their released report, and that is the reasons why their customers were moving. According to Stoll, the UVL customers moving into Vermont were older and doing so largely because they were retired and/or wanted to be closer to family. Those moving out, however, were younger and did so largely for reasons connected to employment. In other words, they got a job, or a better job, somewhere else.
This is not good news for a state that is trying to increase its labor force, build its tax base, and keep from having the oldest population in the nation.
– Rob Roper is president of the Ethan Allen Institute
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Rob,
The best way to grow Vermont is to down size the state government by about 30%