BOISE, Idaho — Idaho’s population is growing, and U-Haul is taking notice. The truck rental company says it saw many people pack up and move to the Gem State in 2021.
A new U-Haul report shows Idaho ranked in the top 10 most popular places to move to last year. Gregory Spurlock, Senior Area Field Manager for the Boise U-Haul, said he expects Idaho and the need for his company's services to grow even more.
“The cost of living is lower here slower pace of life, so people are packing up their U-Haul and coming to Idaho,” Spurlock said.
Just last year, more than 53,000 new residents moved into Idaho.
"Idaho is number 30th in growth last year, jumping significantly in rankings for 2021. Incoming customers accounted for over 50.5 percent of one-way U-Haul traffic, meaning people coming from Idaho increased over 1 percent year over year," Spurlock said.
U-Haul says more people moved from the West Coast to Idaho's more densely populated areas such as Boise, Nampa, Caldwell, Twin Falls, Idaho Falls and Pocatello.
"I think people move to the more metropolitan parts of Idaho because they have some of the amenities that people from the west coast are used to like lots of restaurants, downtown, activities and gives them a more feeling of home," Spurlock said.
With the increase of movers and the ongoing pandemic, just like many other businesses, U-Haul has experienced delays in services and a backup in getting materials.
"Over the past year, U-Haul has experienced delays with building new equipment, everything from components to build trucks to the metal we fabricate to delays of where we get our trucks from has put us behind with where we projected to be with new equipment to serve customers," Spurlock said.
U-Haul says the company is working to stay ahead of the growing population and continues to improve and provide more services.
Supurlock added that U-Haul is staying on top of worker shortages and hiring more people.
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