The Resurgence of the South

The Southern states seem to have found a winning formula.

Douglas Carswell | April 1, 2026

While New York and California are losing population, states like South Carolina and Alabama are not only gaining residents at a record rate, but are also experiencing rapid economic growth.

A recent JL Partners poll captures a shift in perception: 36 percent of Americans now expect the South to lead economic growth over the next decade — far ahead of the West Coast (23 percent), Northeast (21 percent), and Midwest (19 percent). 

This is quite a transformation.  For as long as anyone can remember, the South seemed to be a byword for backwardness.  Since the late nineteenth century, American commerce and industry centered on the traditional business hubs of New York, Chicago, and California.  Each successive wave of innovation — automobile manufacturing and aerospace, chemicals and consumer goods, financial services and digital startups — seemed to happen outside the South.

Starting in the 1980s, an initial wave of “Sun belt” states, like Texas, Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina, began to prosper.  But what you might call the “core” Southern states, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and South Carolina, remained resolutely stuck in the slow lane.  Until now.

Over the past decade, economic growth in the South has exceeded the national average, and in states like Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and South Carolina,........

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