Top 10 Inbound & Outbound States

I have come across an article today saying a lot of people are leaving New Jersey for other states i.e. Florida due to the high cost of living. Since I am a numbers’ guy, I have gone ahead and look into the data for the top 10 inbound and outbound states in 2018.

Couple interesting data or facts that I have found:

1) Outbound States:
8 out of the 10 top outbound states were voted blue in the last presidential election in 2016 - except Alaska and Louisiana.

2) Inbound States:
7 out of the 10 top inbound states were voted red (republican) in the last presidential election - except Nevada, Maine, Vermont.

3) State-Local Tax Burden as % of Income:
Out of the 11 blue states listed here, 9 of those states have a 10% or higher state-local tax burden as a % of income - except for New Mexico, and Nevada.

4) Best States for Businesses:
Out of the 11 blue states, highest-ranked was Massachusetts, 19 on the Forbes Best States for Business 2018; out of the red states, North Carolina ranked best states for business.

5) States Financial Rankings:
The Mercatus Center at George Mason University ranks the 50 states according to their financial conditions, and majority of the blue (Democrat’s) states ranked towards the bottom (1 = Best; 50 = Worst)

6) Higher Electricity Cost:
The outbound states tend to have a higher electricity cost, with average outbound cost per kWh being $0.1599/ vs. average cost per kWh for inbound states of $0.1071/.

Do I have to list out more here?

• Generally speaking, can we conclude that people are leaving the highly taxed states, mostly democrats ruled, to a lowly (sometimes slightly) taxed states, mostly republican ruled?

• When the financial condition of the States is a mess, don’t you think the state government is going to tax the “rich” more, and then further forcing the “rich” out of those states, and then the middle class pays for all the social welfare programs?

• Why would people keep voting for the same people who mess up everything, higher taxes, on one hand, messed up states finances on the other hand - and expect a different result?

So...... how are you going to vote in 2020?