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Historically, Americans moved in order to find better economic opportunities. But the driver has now shifted from the "Go West, young man" mentality, where free and open land presented that opportunity, to much more personal incentives of family and affordability, according to an annual migration report from United Van Lines.

It found Americans are not only choosing to live closer to family, but that they want smaller markets rather than urban cores as they seek cheaper housing and better quality of life. This shift will have a significant impact on commercial real estate investors and the choices they make going forward.

Oregon was the most popular moving destination for the first time ever in 2025, while Florida and Texas, which had seen huge influxes in the Covid and early post-Covid years, are now seeing more balanced migration.

Six of the top 10 inbound states were in the South and South Atlantic: West Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama and Delaware.

"The data reveals Americans are seeking a different pace of life, and destinations like Oregon, the Carolinas and the south are delivering it," Eily Cummings, vice president of corporate communications at United Van Lines, said in a release. "While our total number of residential moves is similar to 2024, we're seeing much greater complexity in why people move and increasingly divergent migration patterns across age groups."

Younger millennials and Gen Z are favoring New Jersey, meanwhile, since it's more affordable than New York City. But retirees are moving out of the state, making it the top state for outbound migration, according to the report.

As the migration rationale shifts to basic affordability and easier lifestyle, the commercial real estate needed to support that is probably somewhat different than if the main driver of those migration patterns was more robust economic opportunity, according to Ryan Severino, chief economist at BGO, a global real estate investment, lending and services firm.

He said the need for more affordable housing, more modest office parks and more middle- to lower-income retail spaces are better bets for investors. Even the industrial real estate that supports that factors in. For example, if people are living in smaller workforce housing, they need to have self-storage nearby.

Demographic shifts also play into that thesis. Population growth is slowing down, the household formation rate is slowing down and the migration rate is slowing down over time, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

"I think what it suggests to me, especially working for a private equity investor, is that we do need to be smarter and pick our spots more carefully from a commercial real estate perspective going forward, than I think a lot of the last however many decades where people have operated under this blanket assumption that, oh, you know, these migration patterns are durable and they're accelerating over time, when the reverse is probably true," Severino said.