Not sure this indicator means much about a city’s growth or decline. After all, Las Vegas was the #2 destination, but it was recently reported that Clark County (Las Vegas) had its first population decline in decades last year. It’s ranking as #2 is just a lot of churning as many people are coming and going, but mostly going.
The better indicator is the occassionally published ratio of the cost of U-haul trucks into a city compared to the cost of a U-haul out. Since the U-haul company varies the price depending on demand, we get a valuable peek into the apparent desirability of a city. By this measure cities in Texas, Idaho, Utah and other economically healthy areas were gaining at the expense of CA, according to data I saw some time ago.
Anybody have the latest figures?