Blue States Lost Billions In Revenue As Americans Fled To Texas And Florida

Blue States Lost Billions In Revenue As Americans Fled To Texas And Florida

Laurel Duggan on May 2, 2023

Democrat-led states including California and New York hemorrhaged residents to red states like Florida and Texas and subsequently lost billions of dollars in tax revenue in 2020, according to a Wirepoints analysis of IRS migration data.

California lost 332,000 residents to outmigration, along with $29.1 billion in revenue, while New York lost 262,000 people and $24.5 billion, according to Wirepoints. The report used 2020 and 2019 tax returns to analyze movement between states from 2019 to 2020.

Behind California and New York, Illinois lost 105,000 people and $10.9 billion, while Massachusetts and New Jersey lost $4.3 and $3.8 billion in tax revenue from migration loss, according to Wirepoints. Population losses in these blue states have a cumulative effect; a shrinking tax base effects the state the year of the losses and every year afterwards, so multiple consecutive years of outmigration add up to massive losses.

Florida was the top destination for new arrivals, bringing in 699,000 new residents and $57.9 billion in revenue; the state also lost 443,000 people and $18.7 billion, netting 256,000 new residents and $39.2 billion, according to the report. Much like population losses, consecutive population gains add up, and Florida’s 2020 tax base was $230 billion higher in 2020 following 21 years of resident in-migration, according to Wirepoints.

Behind Florida, Texas gained 175,000 people and $10.9 billion, Nevada gained $4.6 billion, Arizona gained $4.4 billion and North Carolina gained $4.5 billion.