Toronto 
Credit: U-Haul
U-Haul has revealed the most popular Canadian cities and provinces for DIY movers after analysing migration patterns from 2020. U-Haul’s expansive network of more than 22,000 U-Haul truck- and trailer-sharing locations covers all 10 Canadian provinces and the 50 states of the U.S.A.
U-Haul has rated Canadian destinations by the net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks (i.e. moving vans ranging in size from 10 to 26 feet) arriving in a city versus departing from that city in a calendar year. The company says migration trends data is compiled from more than 2 million one-way truck-sharing transactions that occur annually in Canada and the U.S. Neighboring cities in certain markets are packaged together for U-Haul migration trends purposes.
According to the U-Haul North Bay in Ontario is the most popular city for movers. People coming to North Bay in one-way U-Haul trucks increased 20% in 2020, while departures rose only 3% year-over-year. Arrivals accounted for 57.5% of all one-way U-Haul traffic in North Bay, which ranked fifth for growth in 2019.
North Vancouver, Kingston, Belleville, and the Barrie/Orillia corridor are the other top five growth cities. Ontario boasts 10 of the top 15 cities. Quebec has six cities in the top 25. British Columbia has five.
Other notable spikes in arrivals were seen in Belleville (20%), Barrie/Orillia (22%), Vancouver (16%), Chilliwack (32%), Abbotsford (26%), Lethbridge (17%) and Nanaimo/Coombs (52%).
2020 U-HAUL CANADIAN GROWTH CITIES
| 1. | NORTH BAY, ON |
| 2. | NORTH VANCOUVER, BC |
| 3. | KINGSTON, ON |
| 4. | BELLEVILLE, ON |
| 5. | BARRIE/ORILLIA, ON |
| 6. | SUDBURY, ON |
| 7. | VANCOUVER, BC |
| 8. | CHILLIWACK, BC |
| 9. | CHATHAM, ON |
| 10. | SARNIA, ON |
| 11. | ABBOTSFORD, BC |
| 12. | PETERBOROUGH, ON |
| 13. | ST. THOMAS, ON |
| 14. | LETHBRIDGE, AB |
| 15. | BRANTFORD, ON |
| 16. | QUEBEC CITY, QC |
| 17. | SHERBROOKE, QC |
| 18. | NANAIMO/COOMBS, BC |
| 19. | AIRDRIE, AB |
| 20. | SHAWINIGAN, QC |
| 21. | RIMOUSKI, QC |
| 22. | TROIS RIVIERES, QC |
| 23. | CHARLOTTETOWN, PE |
| 24. | SAINT-HUBERT, QC |
| 25. | SAINT JOHN, NB |
2020 PROVINCES RANKED BY MIGRATION GROWTH
Previous year’s rankings in parentheses
| T1. | BRITISH COLUMBIA (2) |
| T1. | NEW BRUNSWICK (10) |
| 3. | ALBERTA (4) |
| 4. | QUEBEC (3) |
| 5. | NOVA SCOTIA (9) |
| 6. | NEWFOUNDLAND and LABRADOR (5) |
| 7. | PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND (6) |
| 8. | SASKATCHEWAN (7) |
| 9. | MANITOBA (8) |
| 10. | ONTARIO (1) |
BC and New Brunswick top the chart with each posting the same net gain in U-Haul trucks.
BC built upon its 2019 growth with a 3.3% increase in arrivals versus a 2.6% increase in departures in 2020. New Brunswick, a net-loss province in 2019, saw 22.7% more arrivals year-over-year compared to just 7.8% more departures.
Aside from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia (4.4% arrivals increase, 1.7% departures decrease) boasts the largest year-over-year turnaround after ranking ninth in 2019.
According to U-Haul, though U-Haul migration trends do not correlate directly to population or economic growth, the Company’s growth data is an effective gauge of how well cities are attracting and maintaining residents.
