America


billion in income to Ten- nessee


Why some states boom and others shrink.


Moving Van Economics


O BY JOHN FUND


ne of the big- gest cultural and demographic shifts in America


today is the decision of mil- lions of people to “vote with their feet” by moving across state lines.


Americans departing deep-blue liberal states choked by high taxes and red tape have taken with them hundreds of billions of dollars in personal income. Deep-red conservative


states with opposite eco- nomic policies are brim- ming with new economic activity. Texas and Florida have


been the big winners in this shift of population and busi- nesses, while New York and California are the big losers. A quarter century ago,


in 2000, New York and California had 52.9 million people and a clear lead in population over Texas and Florida, which together had a combined 36.9 million. Today, the Empire State


22 NEWSMAX | SEPTEMBER 2025


and the Golden State have a combined population of 59.7 million, just barely above Texas and Florida’s 56 million. “Starting in 2023, for the


first time in American his- tory, the Southeast is now the dominant production powerhouse rather than the Northeast,” says Stephen Moore, the president of Unleash Prosperity, a think tank that has just released a new website documenting the economic shift. The website VoteWith


YourFeet.net is a first-of- its-kind visual mapping project which tracks where residents and capital are relocating, using the latest available data from the IRS and U.S. Census Bureau.


A few minutes on the


website reveals just how real the decline of the Northeast is. States like New York are now losing popu- lation to Arkan- sas and Alabama, which were once considered eco- nomic backwa- ters.


Not only did


California lose 68,449 resi- dents to Florida, but those people also took some $12 billion in personal income with them between 2012 and 2022, the latest year for which we have numbers. California lost: 361,623 residents and $21


billion to Texas 74,978 residents and $4.5


Not only did California lose 68,449 residents to Florida, but those people also took some $12 billion in personal income with them.


MAMDANI


146,280 residents and $9.2 billion in income to Wash- ington state What do all four states


have in common? They have no personal income tax, while California has a punishingly progressive levy.


Someone making just


over $55,000 a year pays an 8% tax rate, while the top rate goes up to 13.3%. Only Hawaii, New York,


and New Jersey have top rates above 10%. Not surprisingly, those


four states are growing at 1% a year or less. New York alone has lost


2 million people from 2015 and 2024, with 80% of its cities and towns getting smaller.


Researchers


at Cornell Uni- versity in Ithaca, New York, pre- dict the state’s population could shrink by another 2 million over the next 25 years — a decline of more


than 13%. And that’s using economic models paid for by the government of New York!


There’s not much reason


for future optimism. New York City, which


makes up more than 40% of the Empire State’s popula- tion, is in the middle of an election for mayor. In June, the Democratic primary was won by Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old state legisla- tor who is a leading figure in Democratic Socialists of America.


Mamdani is on record


VAN/JASONRWARREN©ISTOCK / MAMDANI/AP IMAGES


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