N.J. and you: Not so perfect together
Migration study finds more residents move out, head south, west

New Jersey continued to be a good place to leave last year, according to an annual migration study released Monday by United Van Lines.

The review of United Van Lines' interstate moving business showed that 60.9 percent of the company's 10,259 interstate moves involving New Jersey were outgoing. In every year since 1997, the company has had more moves out of New Jersey than into it.

Nationally, New Jersey had the third-highest percentage of outgoing moves trailing Michigan and North Dakota, both at 66 percent. Generally, the study found people leaving the central northeast region for southern and western states. Neighboring New York and Pennsylvania were also high outbound with 59.5 percent and 57 percent, respectively.

Top gainer states included North Carolina, Oregon and South Carolina.

Though unscientific, the results, which represents about one-third of the 650,000 interstate moves in 2006, buoys Census Bureau figures released in December, in which New Jersey was bucked from the top 10 most populous states, overtaken by North Carolina. Census figures for 2005 showed New Jersey gained just 21,410 residents, while 72,000 moved to other states. Immigration bolsters the state's overall population.

a Rutgers University economist, said New Jersey continues to lose people because despite having incomes that average 33 percent higher than the nation as a whole, the state also has 52 percent higher housing costs.