SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem said in a Jan. 4 Twitter post on her governor’s account people are moving to South Dakota for freedom and way of life.

The state does rank second in people moving in as opposed to out, according to a 2021 United Van Lines National Movers Survey, which is what Noem cited. South Dakota ranks second with 69% inbound migration behind Vermont with 74%.

South Carolina (63%), West Virginia (63%) and Florida (62%) are the other top inbound states.

U-Haul released a similar report, which has South Dakota ranked 11th. Texas was tops followed by Florida, Tennessee and South Carolina.

Although South Dakota gained with move-ins in 2021, it was not a big moving year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The moves in 2021 were the lowest documented rate in more than 70 years.

In 2021, 27.1 million Americans reported living at a different residence than a year earlier, compared to 29.8 million people in 2020. This represents an 8.4% mover rate, the U.S. Census Bureau said.  

The top reasons people moved were to be closer to family (31.8%) or because of a job (32.5%), according to United Van Lines.

Retirement and the ability to work from home influenced movers, United Van Lines said.

In contrast to the U-Haul report, many who moved with United Van Lines moved to small and mid-sized cities and less densely population areas such as South Dakota and Vermont.

U-Haul cited moves to the Dallas-Fort Worth area and communities near Orlando.

Florida, which ranked high in move-ins for United Van Lines and U-Haul, was listed by BankRarate as the second best state in which to retire in 2021. Georgia was first and Tennessee was third followed by Missouri and Massachusetts. South Dakota was ranked 13th.

MoneyRates has Iowa in a tie with West Virginia as the best place to retire in 2021. It listed economy, crime and safety, lifestyle and health care as reasons to rank those states top.

South Dakota was ranked 16th by WalletHub in the best states for millennials in 2021. Washington was ranked first. WalletHub cited affordability, education, health care and economy in its rankings. Iowa was ranked fifth and Minnesota was ranked sixth.