Illinois is found to be the third highest outbound moving state in 2014, according to a study by the United Van Lines company said Friday.

The United Van Lines company serves as a full-service American moving and relocation business and the nation’s largest household goods mover.

From the study, Illinois follows New Jersey and New York, consecutively, in top outbound moving states. The top three inbound moving states consecutively are Oregon, South Carolina and North Carolina.

Illinois has been in the top five outbound moving states for the past six years.

Melissa Sullivan, director of marketing communications, said there are similarities found between the top states that people are leaving. She said many of these states are in the northeast and midwest, and most of the people leaving are doing so to look for employment or retirement reasons.

“They’re primarily going to places where there are lots of employment opportunities and the climate’s a little better,” Sullivan said.

She added it was the company’s 38th annual study, and the organization looked at its customers’ moving destinations between states during the past year. United Van Lines’ website states the study looked at data collected from the 48 contiguous states and Washington D.C.

The organization compares their results with census information collected by the federal government, which tend to be similar in numbers, Sullivan said.

Ali can be reached at [email protected].