Two media outlets recently declared Oklahoma to be among the 10 worst states to move to or live in.

Apparently, the authors of those lists didn’t talk to actual people moving across state lines.

Multiple measures of domestic migration show Oklahoma continues to be among the most popular destinations for people moving from one state to another. In fact, Oklahoma has consistently outperformed nearly all states listed as the 10 best by the two outlets.

Furthermore, several of the supposedly “best” states are actively losing population.

Bryan Sheppard, president of Oklahoma REALTORS and a broker from the Tulsa area, said Oklahoma’s population trends are no fluke.

“People aren’t moving to Oklahoma by accident. They’re coming because Oklahoma still believes in the values that matter: opportunity, affordable homeownership, strong communities, and the freedom to build the life you want,” Sheppard said. “Whether it’s our growing cities, thriving suburbs, or rural communities, Oklahoma offers a quality of life that’s increasingly hard to find anywhere else. Oklahoma isn’t just growing; it’s proving that opportunity and quality of life still go hand in hand.”

Nada Higuera, an attorney whose family is among the many that have moved to Oklahoma in recent years, questions what kind of metrics are being used to downgrade Oklahoma.

“It’s been four years since we moved here, and I don’t regret the decision one bit,” Higuera said. “It’s been the best decision for our family, for our finances, for our mental health. Quality of life has just significantly improved.”

Consumer Affairs recently ranked the best states to move to based on affordability, safety, economic strength, healthcare, education, and quality of life.

That report placed Oklahoma among the bottom five states, along with Arkansas, California, Louisiana, and New Mexico. The bottom 10 states also included Arizona, Oregon, Mississippi, Alaska, and Nevada.

Similarly, CNBC recently declared Oklahoma one of “America’s 10 worst states to live in” in 2026. The main reason cited was that Oklahoma “imposes one of America’s strictest bans on abortion.” CNBC also objected to Oklahoma voters rejecting a state question that would have more than doubled the minimum wage and then continued increasing the mandate based on the cost of living in places like New York City.

CNBC claimed research shows “abortion bans increase net migration outflows.”

Actual migration data, from multiple sources, tell a different story.

A recent report from the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, “Migration in Minutes,” found Oklahoma is among the states drawing the most movers, based on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data through 2022, the most recent year available.

In 2022, Oklahoma ranked 10th-best for attracting net new residents, according to IRS data. Cumulatively, from 2013 to 2022, Oklahoma ranked in the top 14 states.

Other sources indicate that the trend has continued since 2022.

The U-Haul Growth Index, compiled from more than 2.5 million annual one-way transactions across the U.S. and Canada, ranked states by their net gain (or loss) of customers who rented a one-way truck, trailer, or U-Box moving container in one state and dropped off their equipment in another state.

Oklahoma ranked 14th-best in 2025 and ranked 11th in 2024.

Notably, Oklahoma consistently attracts more net domestic migration than nearly all states listed as the 10 “best” by either CNBC or Consumer Affairs.

CNBC’s list of the 10 best states to live in included Nebraska, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Virginia, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Maine.

None of those states attracted more movers in 2025 than Oklahoma, according to the U-Haul Growth Index.

In fact, eight of CNBC’s “best” states ranked in the bottom half of U.S. states, and two—Connecticut and Massachusetts—ranked in the bottom 10 in the U-Haul index.

In contrast, several states on CNBC’s “worst” list fared even better than Oklahoma. Texas attracted more net movers in 2025 than any other state in the country. Alabama ranked ninth, Georgia ranked 10th, Arkansas ranked 13th, and Utah ranked 16th.

Similarly, states ranked as the 10 best places to move by Consumer Affairs generally fared poorly in measurements of actual domestic migration.

The top 10 states, according to Consumer Affairs, were New Hampshire, Utah, Idaho, Virginia, Maine, Massachusetts, South Dakota, Nebraska, Vermont, and Wyoming.

From 2013 to 2022, IRS data show that Oklahoma gained more net population from other states than all but one of the states that Consumer Affairs identified as the 10 most attractive places to move.

As noted, the U-Haul report found Massachusetts ranked in the bottom five states for actual movers in 2025. IRS data cited in the National Taxpayers Union Foundation report showed that Massachusetts has been losing population for several years. In 2022, the most recent for which IRS data is available, only four states lost more net citizens than Massachusetts. Massachusetts was also in the bottom five states for the entire period from 2013 to 2022, with IRS data showing Massachusetts lost 301,508 net citizens to other states.

Despite being identified as a top 10 state to move to by Consumer Affairs, Virginia lost more than 112,000 net residents to other states during that decade, while Oklahoma gained more than 66,000 net residents. Nebraska and Wyoming also experienced net population loss over that decade, despite making Consumer Affairs’ list of the 10 best states to relocate.

Idaho was the only state included in Consumer Affairs’ 10-best list that gained more net movers than Oklahoma between 2013 and 2022.

Higuera said her family’s criteria for determining if a state is a good place to live include things like being community-centered and family-friendly, and offering broad freedom on issues ranging from medical empowerment to school choice. By those metrics, she said Oklahoma “would be on the top.”

“They can’t measure the Oklahoma Standard with statistics,” Higuera said. “They can make their lists, but it doesn’t really mean anything.”