Two trillion dollars. Not million. Not billion. Two trillion with a T. That's how much wealth has packed its bags and moved from blue states to red states over the last decade, according to a new report from the Committee to Unleash Prosperity — and somehow Democrat governors are still standing around wondering why the tax base keeps shrinking.
It's a real mystery, folks. Truly baffling.
The report, titled "Red States vs. Blue States: Where the Money Went," examined IRS migration data from 2012 through 2023 and tracked adjusted gross income tied to Americans relocating between states. The results are so brutal they should come with a trigger warning for every progressive finance committee in the country. States won by President Trump in the 2024 election gained a combined $2.199 trillion in adjusted gross income from inbound migration. States won by Kamala Harris? They lost $1.960 trillion.
Read that again. Nearly $2 trillion — gone. Vanished. Loaded onto U-Hauls heading south and west.
New York leads the exodus of shame with a staggering $660 billion in lost adjusted gross income. Six hundred and sixty billion. That's not a rounding error — that's an entire economy walking out the door. California wasn't far behind at $503 billion. Illinois lost $399 billion. New Jersey hemorrhaged $212 billion. Maryland and Massachusetts each lost over $100 billion.
And where did all that money go? Exactly where you think.
Florida — God bless her — absorbed a jaw-dropping $1.293 trillion in new wealth. That's not a typo. One state alone captured more inbound wealth than most countries produce in a year. Texas pulled in $371 billion. Arizona gained $203 billion. South Carolina and North Carolina each added roughly $187 billion. Even Nevada picked up $150 billion, presumably from Californians who finally snapped after their fourteenth gas tax increase.
As the Committee to Unleash Prosperity put it: "It's a constant theme of ours at UP: blue state residents moving to red states and taking their money and businesses with them. The numbers get bigger every year." The report concluded that "nearly every blue state has lost income due to moving vans and nearly every red state has been a winner."
Moving vans. That's the real ballot box in America right now.
This is what happens when you tax everything that moves, regulate everything that's left, and then act surprised when people and businesses flee to states where the government doesn't treat productivity like a crime. New York, California, Illinois — these aren't failing because of bad luck. They're failing because of bad policy, applied consistently, for decades.
The New York Post reported on this wealth migration as the largest in modern American history, and that's not hyperbole. We're watching a generational resorting of American wealth and talent, and it's all flowing in one direction — away from the states that think the solution to every problem is another tax bracket and toward the states that understand if you leave people alone, they tend to stick around.
Here's the part that really stings for the blue state crowd: these aren't just retirees chasing sunshine. This is adjusted gross income — working wealth, business income, investment returns. The productive class is relocating, and they're taking their companies, their employees, and their tax revenue with them.
Two trillion dollars over eleven years. And the blue states' response? Propose exit taxes to punish the people leaving. That'll fix it.
Keep it up, Governor. Florida's got plenty of room.
