North Carolina the Big Winner in Population Growth
We reflect upon our 250th year as a nation, migration of the American people has been one of the defining stories. The Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic in search of freedom to practice their faith. The frontier of the original colonies pushed west into the fertile land of the Ohio River Valley. Americans set up homesteads across the Great Plains and chased new opportunities in the far west with things like the gold rush.
Today, the 50 states continue to showcase substantial domestic migration as Americans vote with their feet across state lines, the 50 laboratories of democracy. When you think about it, it is really an incredible economic experiment. Each state makes its own set of choices on key policies like taxes, regulations, education and energy. Some of those choices, of course, help their economies grow. They create jobs, allow wages and businesses to grow and increase prosperity. Other policies burden businesses and workers, leading companies to close up shop and make it harder for families to make ends meet.
Well, just last week, the US Census Bureau published the latest data on these migration patterns, and they show that the states embracing free markets and limited government are in many times, the biggest magnets for this in migration. As they vote with their feet, Americans make clear which states make the American dream possible and which others are forcing residents to leave in search of that dream elsewhere.
North Carolina is the big winner this year, on net, nearly 85,000 individual domestic migration in a year than Texas or Florida. However, this success for North Carolina didn’t happen overnight. It is the culmination of a year’s long turnaround today, North Carolina’s economic outlook in our Rich States/Poor States Alec Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index is fourth best in America, but that’s up from a low in 2011 of 26 before its historic free market policy reforms.
North Carolina’s impressive showing in this migration data suggests that Americans have taken note of this incredible economic turnaround among the other states Americans are moving to in this latest data embrace lower taxes and limited government. Is a common attribute. The top five is rounded out by Texas, South Carolina, Tennessee and Arizona, combined with North Carolina, nearly 300,000 Americans moved into these states from July of 2024 to July of 2025 for the fifth year in a row.
California lost more residents to domestic migration than any other state, which is not surprising to many. On net, 229,000 Californians left the state over this period. In total, since 2016 the state has lost nearly 2.3 million residents to one of the other 49 states. That’s more than the entire population of New Mexico.
It is sometimes suggested that it is not public policy but immutable characteristics like weather and geography that determine how Americans migrate. But that argument is contradicted by California, with its picture-perfect weather and attractive scenery, is seeing net losses of hundreds of 1000s of residents to the rest of the country every year.
Income Taxes seem to be particularly important to the Americans that vote with their feet. Of the 10 states gaining the most, four have no personal income taxes at all, and four have flat taxes, with only two having progressive income taxes.
On the other side, seven of the 10 states losing the most Americans have progressive income taxes, many with exorbitant rates. California is joined by New York, Illinois, New Jersey and Massachusetts as the states losing residents the fastest this year. These five high tax states lost nearly 480,000 residents last year.
The lesson for policy makers here is clear, the policies you choose have a significant impact on whether your state attracts or loses residents. States that embrace low taxes, minimize burdensome regulation and foster individual freedom, create environments where people and businesses thrive. In contrast, states that burden their residents with high taxes and stifling regulations will continue to see their citizens leave for more competitive states.
As it has been throughout our 250 years of history, Americans are still migrating to enhance opportunity for themselves and their posterity. For more information, you can go to alec.org for American radio journal.
