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“A $100 Billion Wealth Migration Tilts U.S. Economy’s Center of Gravity South,” read the headline on Bloomberg.com. “For the first time, six fast-growing states in the South – Florida, Texas, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee – are contributing more to the national GDP than the Northeast,” continued the article.

Citing Internal Revenue data, Bloomberg said “a flood of transplants helped steer about $100 billion in new income to the Southeast in 2020 and 2021 alone, while the Northeast bled out about $60 billion.”

“The uplift isn’t happening equally everywhere, or equally for everyone,” reported Bloomberg.

Notably, the article included a map based on Census Bureau data that illustrated the migration, marking growth in green and declines in red. It showed lots of green and dark green areas in the six states mentioned, particularly in larger cities. These states included ten of the nation’s 15 fastest growing cities.

The map also showed lots of red and dark red in Mississippi. That was particularly true for our only large city of Jackson. New Orleans and Memphis also showed lots of dark red.

The article noted that this massive shift of population really began five decades ago and resulted in 12 Southeast states getting to add 33 congressional seats.

Over that same period, Mississippi lost a seat and almost lost another after the 2020 Census.

The takeaway from the Bloomberg article is that most of the terrific boom that swept across the South skipped over Mississippi.

That aligns with a 48th overall ranking in the “2023 Best and Worst State Economies” study by WalletHub.com. Among key categories, Mississippi ranked 43rd for change in GDP, 49th in start-up activity, 45th for change in non-farm payrolls, 42nd in building permit activity, 48th in share of jobs in high-tech industries, and 50th in independent investor patents.

Some interesting tidbits. Three of the six booming states have no income tax, as Gov. Tate Reeves likes to point out – Texas, Florida, and Tennessee. But the other three – Georgia and North and South Carolina – have higher top income tax rates than Mississippi.

Four of the states have minimum wages the same as Mississippi, $7.25 an hour. But Georgia and Florida have minimum wages of $11.00 per hour.

It would appear from the Bloomberg article and other data, that quality of life, good schools, low property taxes, and economic opportunity have had more to do with growth than no income taxes and low wages.

It also would appear that the shrinking City of Jackson has been an impediment to growth for Mississippi.

“Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths” – Psalm 25:4.

Crawford is a syndicated columnist from Jackson.