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In 2023, South Carolina remains the No. 1 hotspot for American movers, with Greenville placing No. 5 when it comes to top cities for incoming residents.

MoveBuddha analyzed post-pandemic trends and patterns to determine popular states and cities and why they chose to move there.

South Carolina, North Carolina and Montana led moves out-of-state for 2020 through 2023.

In addition to the allure of warm weather and proximity to sandy beaches, the report also states South Carolina is 11.5% cheaper than the national average in terms of cost of living. When it comes to the great outdoors, remote workers looking for an escape in nature can enjoy activities such as sailing and hiking.

Urban areas like California, New Jersey and Connecticut had significantly more outbound moves than inbound. When it comes to the most searched states with at least 10K mover queries, North Carolina, Florida and Colorado attracted the highest proportions of inflow in 2023.

From Crybaby Bridge to Gassaway Mansion:9 haunted spots in Greenville, Upstate SC

Areas like Greenville are experiencing growth due to affordability, a steady climate and better access to outdoor activities, while expensive areas drive Americans away when cost of living becomes a challenge. Greenville's strong job market also makes it a desirable city to live in, with many work opportunities in healthcare, tech and manufacturing industries.

Nearby Asheville (No. 1) and Myrtle Beach (No. 3) were also in the Top 5 for most popular cities for movers.

Here is a closer look at the most popular and least popular states:

Most Popular States of 2023

∎ No. 1: South Carolina, 2.11

∎ No. 2: Hawaii, 1.91

∎ No. 3: Alaska, 1.82

∎ No. 4: North Carolina, 1.74

∎ No. 5: Montana, 1.74

∎ No. 6: West Virginia, 1.69

∎ No. 7: Tennessee, 1.62

∎ No. 8: Arkansas, 1.49

∎ No. 9: Maine, 1.49

∎ No. 10: South Dakota, 1.43

Least Popular States of 2023

∎ No. 1: California, 0.54

∎ No. 2: New Jersey, 0.64

∎ No. 3: Connecticut, 0.54

∎ No. 4: Ohio, 0.77

∎ No. 5: Maryland, 0.77

∎ No. 6: Illinois, 0.79

∎ No. 7: Nebraska, 0.79

∎ No. 8: Massachusetts, 0.81

∎ No. 9: Louisiana, 0.81

∎ No.10: Pennsylvania, 0.83

See where we rank:Greenville in Top 5 on Conde Nast list for best small cities in US.

Top Cities to move to in 2023:

∎ No. 1: Asheville, North Carolina, 3.01

∎ No. 2: Ocala, Florida, 2.94

∎ No. 3: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, 2.87

∎ No. 4: Dillon, Colorado, 2.46

∎ No. 5: Greenville, South Carolina, 2.28

∎ No. 6: Saint Augustine, Florida, 2.15

∎ No. 7: Wilmington, North Carolina, 2.02

∎ No. 8: Franklin, Tennessee, 2

∎ No. 9: Pensacola, Florida, 1.99

∎ No. 10: Kissimmee, Florida, 1.98

Exit Cities of 2023

∎ No. 1: Bakersfield, California, 0.48

∎ No. 2:Bronx, New York, 0.49

∎ Oakland, California, 0.51

∎ Stamford, Connecticut, 0.53

∎ San Mateo, California, 0.55

∎ Sunnyvale, California, 0.55

∎ Pasadena, California, 0.55

∎ Fresno, California, 0.56

∎ San Jose, California, 0.57

∎ Columbus, Ohio, 0.58

Nina Tran covers trending topics. Reach her via email at ntran@gannett.com

After nearly a decade of success in Charleston, Carmella's Cafe & Dessert Bar is headed north to open a location near Reedy River in Greenville this December.

The cafe-style breakfast and late-night drinks and dessert space is located at 335 S. Main St. and is aiming to be routine to the daytime traffic along Main Street and an after-hours space for the post-dinner crowd. The cafe also hopes to be a part of other major downtown festivities.

Brian Solari, the owner, waited years to find the perfect tenant space to open. Solari also spent the last 10 years curating a menu filled with coffees, cannolis, and a family recipe carrot cake made by Carmella's nephew, Dennis.

"All of that knowledge has gone into the building of the Greenville location," said Solari. "We know what we want to sell, how to store and make things. Greenville is the culmination of all of the knowledge we built while curating the Charleston location."

Solari expects the interior design and outdoor patio renovations to be complete by mid-November and a grand opening held sometime in December.

Nearly half of its business in Charleston comes from tourism. Solari hopes to establish Greenville's new dessert space along the Reedy River as a local staple featuring coffee, sorbet, cocktails, a diverse pastry menu and more.

Why chose Greenville for Carmella's second cafe

Named after his Grandmother, Carmella, the Italian dessert shop became Solari's first retail food venture in 2014. The New Jersey native had moved to Charleston in 1995 and waited for the perfect dining space to open. He used the same philosophy in opening a cafe in Greenville.

The choice to open the second Carmella's in Greenville came with the idea of a shorter distance from Greenville to Charleston. Solari also can visit family living in Anderson County, and those factors made the decision easy.

"A few times, I've stayed in Greenville and walked through the streets with my wife," Solari said. "I could see the growth and direction of the city and downtown area and figured it would be great to be part of it all."

Purchasing from statewide and regional coffee and tea roasters, plus the access to local breweries, made staying inside South Carolina an obvious choice.

"When people are in town, they're looking for what's local, and the industry has gone toward promoting and showcasing what is local, so we're in favor of that, for sure, " he said.

Differences between the Greenville, Charleston menus

Greenville and Charleston will share nearly 80 percent of the same menu. However, an in-house bakery to handle quiche, frittatas and muffins will separate the two locations.

The difference in the menu will come in the form of more sandwich and pizza topping options, and collaborations with local farmers and brewers primarily.

"There are things about Carmella that people have expectations about, and we want to keep those things consistent," Solari said. "Every menu will have seasonal menu changes that also highlight ingredients and trends happening in the Upstate."

Greenville will have a beer draft pouring system that features coffee, sparkling wine, beer, expresso martinis and more — features the Charleston location does not have.

"It's going to be a place people can come when they aren't done with their evening," Solari said. "We're going to be that spot where you can come and get cocktails for after dinner or enjoy a night out on the town business. I think people are going to love it."

– A.J. Jackson covers the food & dining scene, along with arts, entertainment and more for The Greenville News. Contact him by email at ajackson@gannett.com, and follow him on Twitter @ajhappened.

GREENVILLE — Unprecedented growth throughout unincorporated Greenville County has raised difficult questions for local officials seeking to curb sprawl and preserve the area’s character while providing the homes and infrastructure necessary for a ballooning population.

Well over half of South Carolina’s most populous county remains unzoned, leaving little oversight as new residential developments pop up on an almost daily basis. More units are needed to bolster the area’s lagging housing stock as new people move in. Estimates indicate the area will grow by more than 200,000 by 2040.

But in an area that, despite recent expansions of urban and suburban centers, remains largely rural, residents and local leaders are concerned existing roads, waterlines and sewer can’t sustain unbridled growth.

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Greenville County Council is poised to vote on a proposed land use rule that would prohibit dense development on septic tanks, a measure aimed at better regulating rampant development and protecting the area’s waterways. If the policy changes are approved, developers building on septic in unzoned areas would be limited to one home per one-and-a-half acres, a steep restriction that would likely significantly curb residential construction in certain parts of the county. The requirement would only be applied to projects encompassing 10 or more lots.

The move comes as county staff say they are getting increased requests from developers for projects on septic with 200 houses or more. And Greenville County Planning Director Rashida Jeffers-Campbell told council at an Oct. 24 workshop that failing septic systems are leading to contamination in the county’s waterways.

The proposed regulatory change is aimed at redirecting large-scale development to where the infrastructure is already in place to accommodate large scale growth. There are currently some 40,000 undeveloped acres in Greenville County that already have access to water and sewer lines. Much of that land is in the central part of the county and in areas adjacent to municipalities, including Mauldin and Simpsonville. That’s in contrast to the southern part of the county, which is virtually all unzoned and has no access to sewer, an area that has become increasingly attractive to developers.

“Building 200- to 300-house subdivisions where you’re using a half to three-quarters of an acre per house was not an efficient use of the limited land we have left,” said Councilman Ennis Fant, chair of the planning and development committee.

The new rules would also create enhanced waterway setback requirements for large septic developments, requiring a 100-foot riparian buffer between the homes and any stream.

They’re measures Upstate Forever Deputy Director Lisa Hallo said her organization, a nonprofit dedicated to sustainable growth and environmental protection, supports.

Developers, on the other hand, have raised concerns about the proposed changes to the county’s land use regulations, saying that it would create undue restrictions on adding needed new housing.

Taylor Lyles, executive director of the Homebuilders Association of Greenville, said, if passed, the new rules would stifle home production and drive up costs at a critical time.

“We’re basically telling people moving to our area, ‘Hey listen, we’ve got jobs, we’ve got infrastructure, we’ve got amenities, but you can’t live in Greenville County because you can’t afford it,’” Lyles said.

In part to ease anxieties within the development community, the county has included an annual comprehensive review to the policy, which would require the planning commission to create a report on the effectiveness and potential unintended consequences of the rule changes.

Lyles said he supports the idea of reevaluating the policy each year to mitigate issues but remains wary about of the policy overall.

“There’s just a lot of hesitation about empty promises,” he said.

Councilman Butch Kirven said the proposed policy is not a permanent solution to regulating Greenville County’s growth but a necessary stop gap to provide some oversight while long-term regulations are hashed out. The policy is intended to create a clearer path and impetus for areas to be properly zoned, Kirven said, allowing for more tailored guidelines.

Up until this point, Lyles said, water and sewer lines have followed developer interest, and providers have been loathe to make major investments in expanding infrastructure without assurance that it would be put to use. A lack of coordination among the county and service providers has at times been a point of frustration for developers, he said.

Greenville Politics

Fant said that despite the misgivings, he feels the proposed policy changes are a step toward alleviating that confusion and getting different stakeholders on the same page. The county is creating a new unified development ordinance and forging stronger lines of communication among different organizations, including ReWa, Metro Connects and the Greenville-Pickens Area Transportation Study will be a part of that process. That will allow for more intentional decision-making when it comes to guiding the area’s growth, Fant said. The proposed policy change is a part of that efforts, Fant said.

“Developers have always said to us before, ‘If you tell us where to build and what you want, we’ll do it,’” he said. “Well, we’re telling you. Infill, higher density. Not just plaster southern Greenville County with inefficient septic tanks.”

Council has already delayed second reading on the changes twice to the to allow for more discussion. It is set to vote on the measure again on Nov. 7.

For more than a decade, Mill Village Ministries has connected the Greenville, South Carolina, community with its nonprofit enterprises, providing food, transportation, entrepreneurial and social justice resources to hundreds of residents.

It all sprouted from a few seeds planted by founder and executive director Dan Weidenbenner ’11, enriched along the way by his student experiences and the Furman family.

“Being at Furman really helped me get plugged in to the Greenville community,” he said. “A lot of our original support has come from alums, and it still does to this day.”

Dan Weidenbenner ’11 (center) and other members of the Mill Village Ministries team at the groundbreaking ceremony for the organization’s future headquarters in the Village of West Greenville.

A native of south Florida, Weidenbenner was attracted by Furman’s reputation.

“I knew the psychology department was really good,” he said. “I met some of the faculty when I toured campus, and I had a good advisor back in Florida who told me all about it.”

He served as a resident assistant for Furman’s Engaged Living First-Year Experience community, earned a fellowship with the David E. Shi Center for Sustainability (now known as The Shi Institute for Sustainable Communities) and worked on the Furman Farm.

Weidenbenner began finding ways to connect the campus to his new hometown. In downtown Greenville, he volunteered at the Scott Towers public housing development for low-income seniors. As part of a Furman research project on improving seniors’ cognitive abilities, he helped build community gardens at Scott Towers and at The Woodlands at Furman.

In April 2011, he helped organize a flash mob that brought more than 200 students to Falls Park downtown for a group dance to CeeLo Green’s “Forget You.” The viral video got nearly 90,000 views within three months.

After a post-graduation church mission trip in the Lowcountry, Weidenbenner returned to Greenville, moving into Greater Sullivan, a predominantly Black neighborhood formerly surrounded by textile mills. Many of his neighbors were living below the poverty line in what had become an under-resourced food desert.

Drawing on his Furman community gardening experiences, Weidenbenner sowed the seeds of Mill Village Farms in 2012, turning a patch of land at Long Branch Baptist Church into the Sullivan Street Garden with the help of dozens of neighborhood volunteers.

“I built a lot of relationships and trust, which frankly took a lot of time for someone not from this community,” he said. “I became passionate about building cross-cultural relationships and building bridges.”

The garden now includes 30 beds, a greenhouse and a commercial kitchen. At-risk youth work as volunteers and apprentices, and a food share program distributes produce throughout Greenville.

Other organizations have since come into being under the Mill Village Ministries umbrella. In 2013, Weidenbenner launched Village Wrench to provide free bicycle repair and encourage sustainable transportation in Greenville. Village Launch, founded in 2014, provides training, mentoring and other resources to local entrepreneurs. Village Engage joined the collective in 2019 to involve people of faith in social justice and equity issues.

His work has gotten wide notice. The Upstate Business Journal selected Weidenbenner for its 2015 Who’s Who honors. In 2021, Mill Village Ministries won a Community Spirit Award presented by the Community Foundation of Greenville and TOWN Magazine. Earlier this year, the Motley Fool Foundation inducted Weidenbenner into its Financial Freedom Rule Breakers.

All of the Mill Village Ministries enterprises will soon come together in a 14,000-square-foot space in the Village of West Greenville.

Throughout its growth, the organization has kept close ties to the founder’s alma mater, providing opportunities for student interns and researchers and partnering with Furman’s institutes.

Village Launch often collaborates with The Hill Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and “many of The Shi Institute Student Fellows come work with us,” Weidenbenner said. “I always love telling them my story, because the early seeds of the ministries came from me doing that.”

The social entrepreneur is now working with Judith Williams, an assistant professor of anthropology, on a research project supporting minority- and women-owned businesses. Weidenbenner also frequently visits sustainability and psychology classes.

“In a lot of ways, my job is solving problems,” said Weidenbenner, who still lives in Greater Sullivan with his wife and two daughters. “The skills of critical thinking, being able to analyze problems and test solutions and then communicating those solutions are things I’ve kept with me from Furman.”

One of the buzzwords of our business is “authentic.” It’s tossed around like Old Bay seasoning on a New England boardwalk.

Many restaurants have gone overboard trying to pretend to be something they’re not. That’s why I love Zorba Lounge on East Washington Street in Greenville. No pretension, no shtick. Have a seat in one of their vinyl chairs, sip non-craft beer from a bottle and consider that Zorba served its first steak sandwich during the Nixon administration.

Zorba is a bar without an apology with additional seating for 40, and it would feel at home in an episode of “The Sopranos.” Owner Jimmy Pisteolis’s father George bought Zorba in 1977 when Jimmy Carter was president. Rest assured, he’s barely remodeled it and hasn’t changed the menu.

“When I was a little kid, I’d come into the restaurant to hang out with Dad and pretend to cook,” Pisteolis said. “As I got older, I worked there often, and I remember one day just falling in love with the grind of the business. When I turned 21, way back in 2013, that’s when I took over.”

My latest visit, accompanied by pals Dan Eastland and chef Craig Kuhns, found the same Zorba that Buddy Clay insisted I visit back in 1996. The three of us each ordered a steak sandwich. Mine was adorned with nothing but mayonnaise; my friends’ sandwiches came with additions of freshly sliced and grilled peppers, onions, mushrooms, and provolone cheese. My steak sandwich, served on an onion roll, featured an embarrassing amount of sliced rib loin — freshly grilled — with a hefty amount of mayonnaise, salt and pepper, and nothing else.

Between the three of our sandwiches there must’ve been 2 pounds of freshly sliced ribeye.

After a few bites, Kuhns stated: “Too many sandwiches in this town are frightened of mayonnaise. Not here. This is the best steak sandwich in our town.”

Eastland agreed: “It’s simple, authentic, and there’s no BS. It’s got an authentic vibe that other restaurants would kill for.”

If not for the modern TV sets playing ESPN, there’s no clue that gives away the current year. No pretension and great service — that’s the beauty of Zorba.

Zorba Lounge, at 1414 E. Washington St, is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m.

“City Juice” is a colloquial term for a glass of tap water served at a diner. John Malik is a restaurant coach and restaurant broker. He can be reached at chefjohnmalik@gmail.com.