Heart of US economy moves SOUTH: Six states in the sunbelt now contribute more to the national GDP than perennial powerhouse the Northeast after $100b 'wealth migration' during COVID.
Six of the fastest growing SunBelt states in the South now contribute more to the United States' national GDP than the Northeast for the first time.
Florida, Texas, Georgia, North and South Carolina and Tennessee are now outperforming the Washington-New-York-Boston corridor, new government data shows.
Whilst the data only goes back to the 1990s it is likely the first time the South is outgunning the Northern economy in such a way.   
The switch began during the pandemic and is only gaining momentum, Bloomberg reported.
A flood of electric-vehicle factories and battery plants has helped to bring $100 billion in new income to the Southeast in 2020 and 2021 alone, with the Northeast conversely losing $60 billion during the same timespan.
Two-thirds of all job growth in the country is now concentrated in the Southeast, and it is home to 10 of the 15 fastest-growing cities.
Both Tennessee and Florida increased their GDP by 3.5 percent in the last financial quarter, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Texas and Georgia also performed well increasing by 3 percent and 2.4 percent respectively.
The change in economic activity reflects the migration of workers to the sunbelt in search of better weather and more space after experiencing the cramped conditions of cities like New York during lockdowns.
Southern states also lifted lockdown measures faster, luring away people living in the north east who tired of draconian virus rules. 
Around 2.2 million people migrated to Florida and across the Southeast in the past two years.
'You could throw a dart anywhere at a map of the South and hit somewhere booming,' Mark Vitner, an economic consultant for Piedmont Crescent Capital, told Bloomberg.
Of the nine fastest-growing cities in the South, six were in Texas including the country's fastest growing city, Fort Worth, according to the latest Census Bureau data.

 

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