Florida has become the model for the rest of the country under Ron DeSantis.
The Sunshine State has become a national leader in just about every important measure.
And Ron DeSantis was grinning from ear to ear over one fact that confirmed Florida is the future.
Red states and blue states have been heading in two different directions and the pandemic only exacerbated this trend.
Southern States with Republican leadership have gained millions of residents who have relocated from dying areas of the country like California and the Northeast.
The South has become an economic powerhouse after jobs and businesses flocked there because of their low taxes and light regulations.
“For the first time, six fast-growing states in the South — Florida, Texas, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee — are contributing more to the national GDP than the Northeast, with its Washington-New York-Boston corridor,” Bloomberg reported.
These Southern States surpassed the Northeast in 2020 during the pandemic and the gap has only widened since then.
Heritage Foundation research fellow E.J. Antoni said that the successful conservative policies of the Southern state are driving this change.
“The main driver of growth differentials between the states is public policy,” Antoni told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “This includes tax and regulatory policy, both of which vary wildly between states. Because the South, on average, has states with lower tax burdens, less burdensome regulation, better business climates, and more worker freedoms, these states also average faster growth.”
Five states in the Northeast, including New York, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, and New Jersey are in the top six for total tax burden according to WalletHub.
Meanwhile, Florida is 46th in the country in total tax burden.
“They also attract people to move there from states like California, Illinois, and New York — states that have extremely unfavorable conditions to sustainable economic growth,” Antoni explained. “During the pandemic, remote work became more mainstream so that people were no longer stuck living near a corporate headquarters or central office in places like Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. People chose to leave for lower-tax states, which also often are safer places to live with lower crime rates.”
Census Bureau data shows that the South had the largest population increase of any region of the country after adding over 3.6 million people from July 2020 to July 2023.
The Northeast’s population shrank by 446,960 during that same time span.
California, New York, and Illinois had the biggest population loss, while Texas and Florida were the top states for population growth.
People are leaving New York and California.
People are choosing to live in Florida and Texas.
(The same trend exists for businesses).Can’t say I blame them.#SaturdayMorning #SaturdayMood pic.twitter.com/0zTsDPKdIH
— Dr. Jimmy Yam (@JimmyJoeYam) June 17, 2023
The lack of harsh pandemic restrictions in states like Florida helped them recover more quickly and attract new residents.
“The misguided public policy of government-imposed lockdowns also made life unbearable for many people in more left-wing states, which also tended to be states with high taxes and more burdensome regulation,” Antoni said.
Americans are voting with their feet to move to well-run conservative states like Florida.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
