The first half of 2026 is in the books, and Florida is pulling in nearly two American households for every one it loses, accounting for roughly one of every eight interstate relocations Safeway priced nationwide since January. California, New Jersey and New York are the biggest net senders. The busiest single lane in Safeway’s national network is California to Texas, where Austin draws twice the share Dallas does. And for the first time in this data, New Jersey has matched New York, household for household, as Florida’s biggest feeder state. For the full year-round picture beyond this mid-year snapshot, our year-round migration tracker stays updated as new corridors emerge.
Plenty of migration studies exist. Most are built on census releases that lag two years, or on surveys about what people say they plan to do. This report is built on Safeway’s own nationwide pricing file, every interstate relocation quoted nationwide between January 1 and July 20, 2026, expressed as shares, rankings and real prices. Here’s what the dispatch board sees that the census won’t show until 2028.
Finding 1: Florida isn’t cooling off, it’s compounding
Nearly 13% of every interstate relocation in Safeway’s first-half file was headed to Florida, twice the share of any other state, and for every household priced leaving Florida, almost two were arriving. Florida’s net gain exceeded the next three states combined. The feeder states line up in an unusual order: New York first by a hair, New Jersey essentially tied with it, then Texas, California, Illinois and Virginia. Even Georgia and the Carolinas, themselves net winners nationally, send a steady stream south across the Florida line. Anyone moving to Florida this year is part of the biggest single migration story in the file.
Where in Florida is more interesting than how much. Those moving to Miami still lead the destination list, but households moving to Orlando sit right behind them, and Tampa and Jacksonville together outdraw them both. The fastest-rising cluster in the data, though, is the one nobody markets: the central and Gulf-coast retirement belt. Bradenton, Sarasota, Ocala and The Villages combined match Miami’s share almost exactly, and outdraw Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton put together. The Florida move of 2026 is less South Beach, more pickleball.
Finding 2: New Jersey now leaves for Florida at New York’s pace
New York to Florida is the corridor everyone knows, and it’s still one of the two busiest lanes in the entire book. The quiet story of 2026 is that New Jersey matched it: the two states’ Florida-bound shares are statistically identical in this file, each just over 9% of all Florida arrivals, despite New Jersey having less than half of New York’s population. Per capita, the Garden State is now the more determined Florida feeder. The two states even land differently: New Yorkers’ top destination is Miami; New Jerseyans’ is Orlando, with West Palm Beach and Kissimmee close behind. A side-by-side look at moving from New York to Florida and moving from New Jersey to Florida shows exactly how those two corridors diverge once households arrive.
New Jersey’s exits don’t stop at Florida. It ranks #2 among net-sender states in the book, behind only households moving out of California, and nearly a third of every departing New Jersey household priced chose Florida. Jersey City is the state’s single busiest origin city, followed by Princeton, Newark, Toms River and Hoboken, all served by Safeway’s own New Jersey moving team.
Finding 3: The Texas rush is real, and it goes to Austin, not Dallas
California to Texas is the busiest single lane in the network: nearly one in six of every departing California household priced was Texas-bound. Ask people where those Californians go and nearly everyone guesses Dallas. The data says Austin, roughly one in seven arrivals on this lane, double Dallas’s share and ahead of Houston and San Antonio. Add the suburban belt (Katy, Euless, Spring, Frisco) and the picture sharpens: tech workers to Austin, families straight past the big-city limits sign to the suburban school districts. Households moving to Texas can see the full breakdown on the California-to-Texas route page.
The counterflow deserves its own headline: the Texas to California return route ranks #4 among all lanes in the book, running at about half the volume of the westbound rush. For every two households heading west-to-east on this corridor, one heads back. Migration is a river with a strong current, and a real undertow.
Finding 4: America moves in June, specifically the last week of June
The 2026 scheduling curve is a mountain with one summit. Volume builds through April and May, peaks in June, which alone carries 27% of the entire first half, and eases through July. Nearly 80% of the half-year’s moves fall between April and July. The single busiest week: the last week of June, when roughly 8% of six months’ worth of moves squeeze into seven days. And within any month, the last ten days run about 35% busier per day than the first twenty, because that’s when leases roll over.
For anyone planning a move, this chart is a coupon. The same three-bedroom load that fights for truck space on June 28 books easily, and prices better, on October 14.
What it costs: real 2026 interstate prices
Median flat-rate prices across the interstate file, by load size:
| Load size (cubic feet) | Approx. home size | Median 2026 price | Middle 50% of customers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 500 cf | Studio – 1 bedroom | $4,175 | $3,650 – $4,950 |
| 501 – 900 cf | 2 bedrooms | $4,981 | $4,415 – $5,797 |
| 901 – 1,400 cf | 3 bedrooms | $7,520 | $6,605 – $8,930 |
| Over 1,400 cf | 4+ bedrooms | $12,500 | $10,395 – $15,735 |
Corridor changes the math: a two-bedroom New York-to-Florida move runs a median $4,595 in this file, while the same load California-to-Florida runs $6,270, distance is still the biggest variable after volume. The largest single job in the book all half-year: an 8,129-cubic-foot estate move from northeast Florida to a small town in upstate New York, at just under $50,000. Migration runs in both directions, even the scenic ones. The full national pricing breakdown is in How Much Movers Cost in 2026.
Methodology, and how to cite this report
Figures are drawn from Safeway Moving’s complete internal pricing file for January 1 through July 20, 2026, every interstate relocation quoted nationwide, coast to coast. Results are expressed as shares, rankings, ratios and medians of that file; all data is aggregated, and no individual customer information appears in this report. Price medians reflect binding flat-rate quotes and exclude records without a measured load volume. Because this is decision-time data, families pricing a specific move, origin and destination in hand, it captures migration roughly two years ahead of census releases. Safeway Moving is a federally licensed interstate carrier, USDOT 3756000, MC 1335229. Journalists and researchers are welcome to cite this report with attribution to Safeway Moving and a link; for corridor-level detail or comment, request a media contact through our website.
A note on who’s counting: Safeway Moving was ranked #1 Best National Moving Company, Newsweek Readers’ Choice 2026, a veteran-owned carrier with 20+ years on the road. The second half of 2026, including the fall snowbird wave this data only begins to capture, will be covered in the year-end edition.
Frequently Asked Questions
Planning to be part of the second-half numbers?
Get a flat-rate, binding quote, the kind every median above is made of. Request your free quote online. Safeway Moving, ranked #1 Best National Moving Company, Newsweek Readers’ Choice 2026.
