Liberal State Exiles Flock to First in Freedom State

RALEIGH – The growth in North Carolina over the last decade has been remarkable. A few of our State’s largest markets represent some of the highest growth area of in the country, the Old North State now consistently ranks tops for business and quality of life; and, nearly a decade of Republican policies have brought lower taxes and more opportunity. So, it’s no wonder that of those people escaping to the First in Freedom State, a great many of them are coming from California and New York.

From the Greensboro News & Record:

“[…] The study also found New York was one of the top states people wanted to move from. In the Northeast, snowy weather and high costs of living are among the factors prompting people to relocate, MarketWatch reported in January.

But what about California?

The allure of being “close to the mountains and the ocean without having to pay the high price tag” helped attract Cheyenne Levinson to the Triangle, she wrote on the Raleigh Moms blog. The area public school system and nearby universities were also a plus, she says.

Also of note, the states of California, Florida and New York are among the five most-populous in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

In all, “North Carolina’s population has grown by 848,000 new residents or 8.9%, since the 2010 Census, rising to 10.4 million residents as of 2018,” according to the Carolina Demography blog published Thursday. […]”

To be sure, though, North Carolina’s draw is strong enough to pull in people even from other low tax states. Florida, for instance, which has no state income tax, actually was the source of most increased population in 2017 – 17,000 people.

Also, natural migration trends among bordering states have Virginians and South Carolinians finding North Carolina would be just a little bit finer.

All in all, North Carolina has been growing a lot for reasons consistent with our First in Freedom tagline. The freedom to keep more of your earnings from state governments; to run businesses with out constant avalanches of burdening regulations; to raise families in a beautiful State with an amazing quality of life and strong cultural tethers to distinctly American values.