This city gained more residents when people moved amid pandemic

It may have seemed as if moving plans had been paused when the coronavirus pandemic put an abrupt stop to our everyday lives last March, but according to a recent analysis, a Georgia city actually attracted more residents during this period.

MyMove, an exclusive partner of the United States Postal Service that aids in the official change of address process, conducted a review focused on the patterns of residents moving during the pandemic.

“The telepresence boom is creating a coronavirus moving phenomenon,” MyMove said. “Now that people can continue with their life remotely, they can do so from anywhere. And so people are leaving big, densely populated areas and spreading out to suburbs or smaller communities across the country — at least for now.”

In order to find out the impact COVID-19 had on movers around the country, MyMove gathered Postal Service change-of-address data from February to July 2020. Address changes can be permanent or, if the mover plans on living at another location for less than six months,it could be temporary. While a change-of-address form can be filled for businesses, too, this analysis only reviewed residential requests.

Among the findings, it was discovered that more than 15.9 million people moved during the pandemic, with that number of people filing change-of-address forms. Requests grew 3.92% from February to July 2020 compared to that time in 2019.

As far as why people are moving during the pandemic, D’Vera Cohn, the senior writer and editor for Pew Research Center explained the findings of their study that sought to find the answer.

“About a quarter (28%) told us [they chose to move] because they feared getting COVID-19 if they stayed where they were living,” Cohn told MyMove. “About a fifth (20%) said they wanted to be with their family, or their college campus closed (23%). A total of 18% gave financial reasons, including job loss.”

It’s not uncommon for big cities to lose the most residents to moves, but during the pandemic, the number of moves grew. New York City lost the most with 110,978 movers leaving the Big Apple. However, some smaller cities actually gained movers — including one Forsyth County city in the Peach State.

Credit: MyMove

Credit: MyMove

Cumming, Georgia gained 2,128 more residents in the pandemic. Meanwhile, Georgia gained between 10,001 and 20,000 residents.

If you’re planning to move amid the pandemic, there are some safety precautions you should keep in mind, including coordinating with landlords about the safest ways to drop off keys and inquiring with moving companies about their safety practices.