Greater Victoria is among the top Canadian destinations of U-Haul users.
According to the Canadian Growth City prepared by the moving company, Victoria finished only second behind Kingston, ON., in the company’s growth ranking. It calculates the ranking by substracting the number of one-way U-Haul trucks leaving a municipality from the number of trucks entering said destination, drawing on data generated by the travels of more than 2 million one-way U-Haul trucks travelling across the U.S. and Canada.
Victoria did not make the Top 25 in 2017.
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“Victoria’s growth can really be seen in the outskirts,” said Michelle Benson, president of U-Haul Company of Vancouver and Vancouver Island. “All the land you could see from the highways has been developed to satisfy the growing populations.”
Kelowna (12th), Kamloops (13th) and Penticton (19th) round out of the four communities from British Columbia that make the list dominated by smaller and mid-seized Ontario communities, including Trenton (3rd), Belleville (6th), and Brockville (7th).
Overall, Ontario accounts for 17 communities on the list, B.C. for four, Alberta for two, (Spruce Grove and Leduc), and Quebec (Montreal) and Nova Scotia (Halifax) for one each.
While the company says that migration trends do not directly correlate to population or economic growth, U-Haul growth data apppears as an “effective gauge” of cities attracting and maintaining residents.
By that standard, the list suggests that Canadians are departing Canada’s larger metropolitan areas like Toronto and Vancouver for smaller, more affordable locations.
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