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The American South is gradually becoming the heart of the US economy as the urbanized economy of the Northeast declines.
As recently reported in Bloomberg, the combined GDP of Texas, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas surpassed the GDP of the Northeast region that includes Washington D.C. and the 11 states from Maryland up to Maine. In 2005, the Northeast’s share of national GDP was 23.5%, while the six-state South’s was 21.8%. In 2022, the numbers flipped: The South’s share was 23.8% while the Northeast’s was 22.4%.
Many Americans are fleeing blue states in the North and West and settling in the Conservative-dominated South. Low taxes are a contributing factor for why so many people are moving to the South. Republican policies also make life more affordable for working families. Without the environmental and labor mandates found in Democratically run states, it is less expensive and easier to build not just new houses but new roads, schools, power plants, and everything else that allows people to live comfortably.
The flood of transplants has helped steer about $100 billion in new income to the South in 2020 and 2021 alone, while the Northeast bled out about $60 billion, based on an analysis of recently published Internal Revenue Service data.
The South accounted for more than two-thirds of all job growth across the US since early 2020, almost doubling its pre-pandemic share. And it was home to 10 of the 15 fastest-growing American large cities.