Since the pandemic, Americans fed up with high crime, high taxes, and overcrowding in “blue” states have fled their cities and moved to states promising lower taxes, more affordable housing, and higher standards of living. Now the mass migration is going to be reflected on Capitol Hill as major Democratic strongholds will likely lose some congressional seats to Republicans in 2030, a new report finds.
California and New York will likely lose a combined six congressional seats while Texas and Florida could gain eight, according to a 2030 Apportionment Forecast based on 2025 Census Bureau Population Estimates.
“It’s the high tax structure, the increased cost of utility bills,” Justin Wilcox, executive director of the business advocacy group Upstate United, told the New York Post.
New York and California have not yet recovered from massive flights from the states. Recent US Census Bureau data finds that both states are still down by 200,000 residents. In comparison, Texas and Florida have gained about 400,000 and 200,000 residents, respectively.
Patrick Bailey, spokesman for the New York State Business Council, told the New York Post that “losing congressional seats is the collateral damage.”
“Americans continue to vote with their feet, fleeing blue states and moving to red states,” New York GOP spokesman David Laska told the outlet. “Who could blame them? One-party Democrat rule has made New York the most taxed, least affordable, least free state in America.”
The data shared on X by the Redistrict Network shows that states like North Carolina, Georgia, Utah, and Idaho could gain one more seat as well. Illinois, Rhode Island, and Oregon are also projected to lose a seat or two.
As CBN News reported, California is seeing an exodus from Hollywood celebrities to billionaire business owners.
The state’s top 1% of wealthiest people are fleeing to avoid a looming tax initiative that, if passed, would impose a one-time five percent tax on the assets of California residents worth more than a billion dollars.
Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya shared on X that if the bill is approved, there could be no end to this mass exodus.
“California billionaires were reliable taxpayers,” Palihapitiya wrote. “They were the sheep you could shear forever. Now, California will lose this revenue source forever. Unless this ballot initiative is pulled, we will not stop the billionaire exodus. With no rich people left in California, the middle class will have to foot the bill.”‘
The U-Haul Growth Index, which tracks the demand for its rental trucks and their destination each year, finds that it is not just the wealthy or the elite fleeing states like California.
Their latest report indicates that the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area in Texas is the most preferred metro relocation destination for the second year in a row. Ocala, Florida, ranked as the top relocation city.
“We continue to find that life circumstances — marriage, children, a death in the family, college, jobs, and other events — dictate the need for most moves,” said John “J.T.” Taylor, U-Haul International president, in a press statement.
The U-Haul Growth Index is compiled from more than 2 million annual one-way transactions across the U.S. and Canada.
