Northeast U.S. Lost About $60B in New Income as People Relocate South
For the first time since government figures going back to 1990, “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” — a trend that shows no signs of reverting. The relocation of people to the Southeast in 2020 and 2021 alone helped generate about $100 billion in new income, in contrast to the income loss of $60 billion in the Northeast based on an analysis of recently published Internal Revenue Service data. In addition, the Southeast accounted for more than two-thirds of nationwide job growth since early 2020, almost doubling pre-pandemic share; and it was home to 10 of the 15 fastest-growing American large cities, with population growth translating into more congressional seats.