Americans Continue Their March to Low-Tax States

Excerpt from The Hill on February 12th, 2019.

“The United States Census Bureau released its annual state-by-state population estimates for 2018 in late December. It highlights migration trends across the states and sketches a picture of looming political changes that will take place after the complete census of 2020.

Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Arizona led the way this past year in overall population growth as a percentage of population.

Once again, Texas and Florida were the big winners in overall population gains, with the Lone Star State gaining more than 379,000 residents from 2017-18 and the Sunshine State posting a gain of more than 322,000.

The big net losers from the report were New York, which lost a total of 48,510 residents, and Illinois, which lost 45,116.

These state-by-state population numbers will alter the makeup of seats in the United States House of Representative during the once-a-decade reapportionment and redistricting process that will commence after the 2020 census.

Political strategists from both sides of the aisle are interested in predicting the state political winners and losers of the next census in 2020. Election Data Services uses several methods to estimate the state-by-state changes to expect in 2020.”

ALEC’s Chief Economist Jonathan Williams goes on to further highlight interstate migration trends and how these can be related to the states’ economic competitiveness. Particularly, he discusses in-migration, Rich States, Poor States and the relationship between state migration and tax rates. To read the full article by Jonathan Williams, click here.