Florida, the Sunshine State, has more available jobs than New York for the first time in nearly four decades, and lower taxes is one factor.
Key Details
- Americans are increasingly headed south, lured by better weather, lower cost of living, and most importantly—lower taxes.
- At the end of 2022, Florida narrowly beat out New York in the number of non-farming jobs. Florida had 9,578,500, and New York had 9,576,200—a 2,300 difference, Bloomberg reports.
- This is the first time since data collection began in 1982 that Florida has had more workers than New York.
Why it’s news
Americans have been steadily heading southward in search of states with lower taxes for years, but the pandemic pushed the migration into overdrive.
Residents with the option to work remotely have started taking advantage of the opportunity to move to warmer states with their preferred weather conditions. Additionally, the cost of living further south is lower than in the North.
For New York residents making between $13,901 and $80,650 a year, the state income tax rate is 5.85%. Florida, on the other hand, has no individual income tax. The average American has a yearly income of $31,000.
Backing up a bit
The southern U.S. population is growing while other areas of the country are shrinking, leading to the South potentially becoming the hub of the U.S. population for the first time in U.S. history.
If trends continue, the U.S. population center could be in the South by the end of the decade. The southern U.S. outpaced other regions of the U.S. last year by more than 1.3 million people.
Southern population surge is partly due to births outpacing deaths in the region and increased domestic and international immigration to the area.
In comparison, the North and Midwest lost overall residents. The West grew by 153,000 people. Six of the top 10 U.S. states with the most significant growth last year were southern states, including Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia.
The U.S. Census Bureau changed how it calculates its estimates due to pandemic delays, and the population estimates may have been skewed.
