Is Airdrie on the one-way ticket trend of movers?

Many packed their precious belongings in 2023 and made a one-way trip to Alberta, so much so that the province has topped the annual U-Haul Growth Index report.

According to the report, Alberta is the leading growth province for 2023. Calgary is Canada’s top growth city based on the one-way U-Haul transactions of do-it-yourself movers. While Airdrie was not on the list, the city continues to be one of the fastest-growing cities in the province. 

Naga Chennamsetty, U-Haul Area District Vice President of Western Canada said that the trend of people flocking to Alberta was already noted in 2020.

"..Because of the affordable housing, and since then the province has continued attracting residents and bringing in new jobs,” Chennamsetty said. "Cities like Calgary and Edmonton saw a good influx of new residents again in 2023.”

In Alberta, 51.1 per cent of all one-way U-Haul customers in 2023 were arriving in the province, while 48.9 per cent were leaving. Compared to 2022, this is a 1.6 per cent increase in arrivals versus departures. 

Calgary and Edmonton each saw significantly fewer people leaving their cities, which catapulted them in the growth city rankings with considerable net gains for DIY movers. In Calgary, more than 52 per cent of one-way U-Haul customers were arrivals in 2023. 

Among the top 25 Canadian growth cities, Edmonton was ranked third, while Camrose rounded out the list. Province-wide, British Columbia followed Alberta in growth provinces - a massive improvement from 2022, in which B.C. was ranked as ninth. Ontario slid to the bottom of the list.

U-Haul calculates growth in cities and provinces by each city’s and province’s net gain (or loss) of one-way equipment from customer transactions in a calendar year. 

Previously, Statistics Canada also noted in a December 2023 report that Alberta was continuing to top the list of provinces across the country for interprovincial migration exchanges.

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