High-tax state exodus accelerates as more Americans flee to Florida, Texas

Republican-controlled states saw an influx of residents in 2022 as exodus from high-tax states accelerated.

A growing number of Americans have migrated from predominantly blue states with high taxes like California and New York to lower-tax red states like Florida and Texas last year, according to new data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Florida has seen the largest influx of new residents, with about 319,000 Americans moving there in 2022. This means a population growth of nearly 2%, well above the 0.4% national growth recorded in the US between July 2021 and July 2022.

Other red states that have led in population growth include Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Arizona, and Idaho.

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Three of those states, including Texas, Florida and Tennessee, do not tax regular income, according to a separate analysis by the Impartial Tax Foundation, a group that advocates lower taxes.

At the other end of the spectrum, California, New York and Illinois, where the tax burden is among the highest in the nation, saw the largest population declines in 2022. In 2022, California’s population declined by more than 343,000, although York experienced the largest population decline at 0.9%.

The populations of New Jersey and Massachusetts also declined last year.

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The analysis uses USPS address change data to identify internal migration patterns. When people want to forward their mail from their old homes to their new residences, they usually file an address change request with the USPS. NAR said it was “a good indication of how and where” many people are moving.

The analysis covers zip code movements in the US during 2022.

NAR identified another reason Americans chose to move to more Republican-led states last year: strong job markets.

“In the top 10 major regions with the highest levels of entry, their economies have not only been able to recover all the jobs that were lost at the beginning of the pandemic, but they are now on average 5% more jobs than in March 2020. in these areas,” the analysis says.

In fact, compared to the national level, the post-pandemic labor market recovery has been more than twice as fast as the national trend.

At the same time, big cities such as New York, San Francisco and Chicago have suffered losses as the lack of affordability encourages many residents to consider moving.

NAR noted in its report that many of the areas that have relocated the most have been economies where the job market has drastically contracted since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, when state and local governments across the United States closed or restricted businesses. virus suppression operations.

“This population migration paints a clear picture,” said Janelle Fritts, a policy analyst at the Tax Fund. “People gone high-taxed, high cost states for lower taxes and cheaper alternatives.”