South Carolina grew faster than any other state between 2022 and 2023 as Americans kept moving across state lines, adding more than 59,000 residents from other states and pushing its inbound flow to just over 1% of its population. That surge came as Texas and Florida drew the largest number of new residents overall, underscoring how red states and blue states are still dividing the map not just politically, but economically.
South Carolina also gained more than 29,000 new tax filers and roughly $4.1 billion in income over that same period. Texas led the nation in 2023 with 56,473 new tax filers, while Florida followed with 55,349. Those gains were paired with heavy losses in the places people left behind: California shed more than 100,000 tax filers and nearly $12 billion in income from 2022 to 2023, and New York lost nearly 72,000 tax filers and about $10 billion.
The pattern fits a broader shift toward the South, where lower taxes, more jobs and a higher quality of life continue to pull Americans away from older population centers. Texas and Florida still attracted the most people overall because they are much larger states by size and population, but the pace of South Carolina's growth showed how smaller states can also become magnets when the migration wave is strong.
Steve Moore said the group launched a billboard campaign in New York and New Jersey as both states were losing residents and their incomes. That is the tension at the center of the migration story: the states people are leaving are not only losing population, they are losing taxable income and economic weight at the same time.
The numbers point to a widening redistribution of money and power inside the country. The next question for governors in both parties is not whether Americans will keep moving, but whether the states losing residents can find a way to stop the drain before it becomes permanent.
