(The Center Square) – Texas and five other southern states added more to the national GDP than the entire northeast in 2020-2021, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and IRS data analyzed by Bloomberg News.
“A flood of transplants” to Texas, Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina and Tennessee “helped steer about $100 billion in new income to the Southeast in 2020 and 2021 alone, while the Northeast bled out about $60 billion, based on an analysis of recently published Internal Revenue Service data,” Bloomberg reported.
“The six fast-growing states in the South … are contributing more to the national GDP” than the entire Northeast (Washington-New York-Boston corridor), according to government data going back to the 1990s evaluated by Bloomberg.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott praised the news in a tweet saying, “Texas and five other states in the South added more to the national GDP than the Northeast for the FIRST time in history! With the most talented workforce and the best business climate in America, Texas is where people prosper and businesses thrive.”
“The Southeast accounted for more than two-thirds of all job growth across the US since early 2020,” Bloomberg notes. Economic growth followed migration.
Nine of 15 fastest-growing cities in 2022 were in the South and six of them were in Texas, according to Census data released in May.
“Texas was the only state that had more than three cities on both the 15 fastest-growing large cities and towns by numeric change and by percent change lists,” the report notes.
Texas also leads the U.S. in job creation by more than double and in May reported series-high job count for 20 consecutive months and 27 consecutive months of job growth. In May, as in previous months where Texas broke previous monthly records, Texas added the greatest number of total jobs, had the greatest number of total Texans employed, and had the highest total Texas labor force reported in state history.
Since Abbott has been in office, the state has added over 2.1 million jobs.
In 2019, the BEA reported that Texas had the fastest growing GDP of 4.4%. Three years later, Texas continued to lead – reporting the fastest economic expansion of 7% – nearly triple the national GDP rate of 2.6%.
When the 2022 GDP record was announced in March, Abbott said, “It is no surprise that Texas continues to lead the nation, thanks to the hardworking men and women of this great state who have built the most dynamic economy in America. This astounding economic growth in Texas, reflected also in our state’s nation-leading and record-smashing job creation, is further proof that when given the freedom to succeed, businesses invest and people aspire. That is truly the secret to the Texas model. Together, we are building an even greater Texas of tomorrow.”
Texas’ estimated growth rate from 2021 to 2022 was 14.8%, also faster than the national rate, according to BEA data.
Another analysis shows the last two quarters of Texas’ economic growth are its best performance since late 2014 and early 2015. Texas ended 2022 with a new record-high state GDP of $1.92 trillion.
Over 70% of real growth in the second half of 2022 was driven by Texas oil and natural gas-related industry segments, according to BEA data.
