10 U.S. Cities Everyone Is Moving To in 2026 and 2027

Americans like a good change of scenery. They switch states and cities on the regular. It's kind of been our thing for some time now. That and having massive portion sizes at restaurants. Those are the real American pastimes. Not baseball, not apple pie. Moving and eating hamburgers so big it would make every kid in New York City during the Great Depression cry into his bowl of porridge. But these days, city to city migration has never been as high as it is right now. In this video, we're looking at what cities people are moving to in 2026 and where they're predicted to be moving in 2027. You'll find in this video that Americans are still moving to different places around the country, but mostly the South because they're looking for lower cost living. Some of the usual suspects are on this list. Florida and Texas are still going strong and the Carolinas continue to collect new residents like someone forgot to turn off the people faucet. Now we're basing this on different moving services in the first quarter of 2026 and what the US census predicts in 2027. Let's take a look. Number 10, Jacksonville, Florida. Jacksonville holds the 10th spot for the second year in a row, mostly because there's no limit to how many people Florida can squeeze in between strip malls and interstate exits. It quietly became enormous while the rest of the country was still picturing it as a beach town with a football team that occasionally remembers football supposed to involve winning. Jacksonville right now has an estimated 1,017,000 residents, making it one of America's newest million person city. That's right, more than a million people now live there. The good news is Jacksonville is so spread out, it actually doesn't feel like it's that crowded. The population grew by 0.8% between 24 and 25 and has increased 7.2% since 2020. That works out to about 68,000 additional residents in roughly five years. Jacksonville offers Florida without crazy South Florida pricing. That being said, newcomers are starting to discover this secret and it's no longer a secret. This is evident by the number of Yankee license plates parked out in front of open houses. The 2027 prediction, well, if the latest growth rates continue, Jacksonville will have 1.035 million residents by 2027 and it'll probably remain somewhere between eighth and 15th on mover rankings. And a lot of this has to do with the military presence, logistics industry, healthcare jobs, and a ton of suburban housing. Yes, they've got a ton and everybody knows it. Number nine, Sarasota, Florida. Sarasota is the comeback story of this list. It didn't appear in POD's 2025 top 20, but returned in 2026 at number nine. I guess retirees looked at Florida's insurance bill, nodded thoughtfully and said, yeah, but have you seen the sunsets and the speedos? Sarasota, or as I like to call it, Bikini Boomerville had an estimated 58,000 residents in 2025. That's up 1.2% in one year and 6.6% since 2020. The city itself is not especially large, but the broader Sarasota North port region have absorbed a whole bunch of retirees and people looking for a new lifestyle. Their 2027 prediction, if they continue at the pace they have right now, Sarasota will just hit 60,000 by 2027, give or take a couple hundred people. I expect it to remain popular, but its ranking could bounce around more than others. Home prices have softened, but insurance storm exposure and housing costs could push some future retirees towards Ocala or North Carolina, or even Costa Rica for that matter. Number eight, Knoxville, held onto the eighth position for three consecutive years. That kind of consistency is unusual in moving company rankings where cities regularly leap around like a caffeinated grasshopper. Knoxville reached 202,000 residents in 2025. It grew by 1.5% over the last year, and it's up 6% since 2020. A lot of people move here for the universities or medical employment, maybe even the nearby outdoor recreation and small city atmosphere without being completely disconnected from civilization. 2027 predictions, Knoxville will reach 208,000 residents by 2027. It should remain in the top 10 or top 15 destinations for some time. Although Tennessee's era of being a cheap alternative is fading, fading fast. Knoxville is still less expensive than Nashville, but it's no longer handing out bargain houses with a complimentary banjo and a straw hat. Number seven, the Boise Metro. Yeah, the Boise Metro area is getting kind of big, and here they are at number seven. Now, what's interesting about this one is the city isn't as popular as it used to be, but their suburbs and the other cities around it, they're doing great. They're pulling them in. Boise had about 238,000 residents in 2025, but the city only grew by 0.3% during the latest year and 1.1% since 2020. That suggests much of the region's expansion is occurring outside of Boise itself, especially in communities like Meridian Star and Nampa. People are still moving to Boise, but many are technically ending up 20 minutes away in a subdivision where Cornfields lost a zoning argument probably about two decades ago. The 2027 prediction? Boise proper will stick around 239,000 residents, but the wider Treasure Valley area should keep growing at a pretty good pace, I imagine. Number six, Charlotte, North Carolina. Charlotte might be the strongest pure city growth story on this entire list. It ranks sixth for move-ins, matching its 2025 position while adding more residents than any other incorporated city in the nation between 2024 and 2025. Now, I've been telling everyone this for a while that the big cities in North Carolina are blowing up. I did find it pretty interesting that the Charlotte Police Department, after a party that was what they called a takeover party in a park downtown, they went and started citing and arresting parents for their kids being there. So yeah, they got a weird way of cracking down on things, started arresting or at least citing parents. They made 24 arrests and cited 13 parents after the teen takeover at the Uptown Charlotte Park. Charlotte reached an estimated 964,000 residents in 2025 alone, adding almost 21,000 people in one year. That represents an annual growth about 2.2%. Now, here's where it gets crazy. Since 2020, they've increased their population by 10.3%. Charlotte is no longer merely a regional banking center. It's becoming one of America's major cities. Now, let's hope the road network keeps up with that. If not, you're gonna see a lot of road construction and we all know that's just a wonderful experience, especially on a very hot summer day. It's 2027 prediction, if Charlotte repeats its latest growth rate, it would cross the 1 million resident line by 2027. I expect Charlotte to remain in the top seven and possibly climb into the top five in the coming years and it'll probably stay there for some time. Number five, Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina metro area. Greenville-Spartanburg slipped from fourth to fifth, but it's still one of Southeast's most dependable migration magnets. People aren't moving there because downtown Greenville suddenly turned into a Manhattan with better barbecue. They moved there for the entire interstate 85 corridor where factories, hospitals, warehouses, and subdivisions are lined up like somebody built an economy using a highway exit menu. It is less big city excitement and more steady paycheck, decent house, and a Costco a short drive away. That I guess is the secret sauce to getting half the country to start packing boxes and calling realtors. Now, Greenville had around 75,000 residents in 2025, growing 0.5% over the last year and 5.9% since 2020. Spartansburg had roughly 39,000 residents with an annual growth of 0.6 and a total growth rate of 3.2% since 2020. The 2027 prediction, they're going to reach 76,000 residents by 2027, while Spartansburg will get over 40,000 if their latest rates continue. The combined market should remain in the top 10 and it's not going anywhere. It's going to continue to grow and I think that's one of the ones will become one of the most moved to cities in the United States. Number four, Raleigh, North Carolina. Raleigh slipped from third to fourth, but the research triangle has not suddenly stopped vacuuming up newcomers. It still offers one of the country's strongest combination of universities, hospitals, research jobs, and suburban neighborhoods, where every house is beige and the HOA knows exactly how tall your grass was at 7.14 Tuesday morning, and you got a note about it. Raleigh reached an estimated 5.6,000 residents in 2025, growing 1.5 in the latest year and 8.2% since 2020. And that doesn't include the human overflow pouring into Cary, Apex, Wake Forest, and every nearby town with a brewery, a Publix, and a subdivision named after a forest they bulldozed to build the subdivision. Basically, the research triangle keeps attracting scientists, healthcare workers, tech employees, and families who want good jobs without paying Boston prices. Although Cary is working very hard to catch up with places like Boston, San Francisco, New York City. The 2027 prediction, maintaining its recent pace, would get Raleigh to being about 521,000 residents by 2027 and should remain in the top five for some time. I mean, it's going nowhere. I think it's just going to keep growing for at least the next 10 years. Raleigh's biggest threat is its own popularity, and this happens to so many places. It's turning affordability into a historical exhibit here. I mean, when a place gets popular, people move in. When people move in, prices go up. Perfect example, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, Miami, Orlando is feeling that right now, Denver is feeling that, Seattle, and even Portland, Oregon. When you get more people in, it's not always a blessing. So everyone in the South that's going, woo, we're number one because everyone wants to live here. Not for long. Your turn will continue for 10 years, and then people will be heading the Midwest. Number three, Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. Dallas-Fort Worth jumped from fifth place in 2025 to third in 2026. However, the population numbers reveal that the two halves of the metroplex are traveling in very different directions. It was weird when I was a kid and didn't know much about geography. I thought Dallas-Fort Worth was the name of the entire city, not just two separate cities. Not sure when I finally figured that one out. Now, Dallas had about 1.3 million residents in 2025. That's a slight 0.1% decline during the latest year, although it remains 1.9 larger than it was in 2020. Fort Worth actually crested 1 million residents, growing by 1.9% over the last year, and an enormous 11.9% since 2020. In other words, the Dallas-Fort Worth boom is starting to look like it's Fort Worth and all the outer suburbs of Dallas, while Dallas stands by, holding onto its name tag. The 2027 prediction? Well, repeating the latest rates would leave Dallas near 1.3 million residents and push Fort Worth to about 1.068 million. Dallas-Fort Worth should remain in the top three or five, but future growth will probably be shifting towards Fort Worth, Collins County, Denton County, and other outer suburbs like Plano and Frisco. Number two, Ocala, Florida. Ocala has ranked second for three straight years. That is impressive for a city many Americans previously associated with horses, retirement communities, and mullet-sporting dudes in trucks with damaged exhaust systems and confederate flag window decals. That's all people know about Ocala. Matter of fact, most people have never even heard of Ocala, unless you're from the South. Ocala had approximately 71,000 residents in 2025, growing by 2.4% in just one year and 12.7% since 2020. It's one of the fastest-growing city centers on this list. Its inland location lowers the cost compared to Florida's major coastal markets, and access to outdoor recreation has made it especially attractive to retirees and people cashing out from more expensive metropolitan areas. I mean, if you're living in New York City, and you move down to Ocala, and you start looking at your bank account every month, and after all your expenses and everything like that, you're all, where'd this extra $4,000 come from this month? Then the next month, you're all, there it is again. What is going on? Yeah, that's how much you could save there compared to New York City. The 2020 prediction, if the latest pace continues, Ocala will get over 75,000 residents by 2027. It has a very good chance of remaining in the top five and could be in first place if the next one on this list ever cools down. The danger is Ocala eventually becomes too expensive and destroys the affordability story that attracted everyone there in the first place. All right, before we get to number one, if you're thinking about moving any place in the United States, there is a link for home and money in the description area below. They can get you in touch with a real estate agent anywhere in the country. All right, on to number one. Number one, Wilmington, North Carolina. For the fourth consecutive year, the Wilmington market is America's most moved to destination, and according to all the sources used for the data in this, this is technically an expanding two-city coastal region, because you got Myrtle Beach down the road about an hour, and then Wilmington, and everything in between is kind of growing together, and we'll see how that works out in the years to come. But right now, everyone's moving to Wilmington. In 2025, Wilmington reached 126,000 residents, increasing 1.1 over the last year and 9.8 since 2020. The prediction? Wilmington is going to get to 130,000 by 2027. If not, it's going to be close. The region still offers coastal living at prices below the northeastern beach communities, although insurance costs, infrastructure strain, and continued development could gradually weaken its appeal, but it's still a pretty good place to live. So the big 2027 prediction? Everyone's moving to the Carolinas. That's, you know, I mean, there's other places where people are moving to, but I'm here to tell you, over the next five, maybe 10 years, it's all going to be about North Carolina. So start packing up and get ready to eat some good food and have some hurricanes occasionally. All right, that's today's video. I hope you guys enjoyed it. If you did, you'd probably like this one right now. It's about 50 American cities you should visit before you die. Everyone have a great day. Be nice to each other.