The coronavirus pandemic seems to have changed everything. But there's at least one constant — New Jersey ranks dead last in a yearly survey that looks at folks moving into and out of the 50 states.

In United Van Lines' 44th Annual National Migration Study, New Jersey posted a country-high 69.5% outbound migration rate in 2020 — about 7 in 10 of New Jersey's interstate movers were moving out of the state, while just 30% were moving in.

"People are moving from New Jersey to the state of Florida and North Carolina and South Carolina," said Eily Cummings, with United Van Lines. "For the ninth consecutive year, the Northeast saw more people leaving than entering."

New Jersey has held the "top" spot for the past three years. With 67% of interstate movers headed outbound, New York wasn't far behind New Jersey's 2020 score.

According to the survey, about 32% of folks who exited New Jersey in 2020 did so for retirement reasons.

Cummings noted COVID-19 has certainly played a role in decisions this year — more New Jersey exoduses than ever before (27.84%), and entrances (35.59%), were done for "family reasons."

Those aged 55 and older represented nearly 70% of outbound moves from New Jersey in 2020, the survey found. The same demographic accounted for about 45% of the people who came here.

According to Move.org, New Jersey had the seventh highest amount of people move out of the state in 2020.

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