A quiet but powerful referendum on governance is taking place across the United States. It is not happening at the ballot box, but on the interstate highways. A new analysis of IRS migration data reveals a massive, decade-long exodus of people and prosperity from a handful of Democrat-run states to a handful of Republican-run ones, a trend that has profound implications for the health of our republic.

This is not a simple political talking point; it is a tangible and large-scale demonstration of a core constitutional principle in action: federalism. The data from the “Vote With Your Feet” project shows American families casting their ultimate vote not with a ballot, but with a moving truck. This great migration is a real-time experiment in governance, and its results demand our attention.

A Nation on the Move: The Stark Numbers

The data, which tracks the movement of people and their Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) between 2012 and 2022, paints a stark picture of two very different Americas.

Five states, largely governed by Democrats during this period, saw a catastrophic loss of wealth and population. New York suffered the most, losing over $111 billion in income, followed closely by California, which lost over $102 billion. Illinois ($63 billion), New Jersey ($31 billion), and Massachusetts ($19 billion) rounded out the top five, with these states collectively losing over $326 billion and millions of residents.

Conversely, a handful of states, largely governed by Republicans, were the overwhelming beneficiaries. Florida was the clear winner, gaining a staggering $196 billion in new income. Texas followed with a $54 billion gain, while states like Arizona, North Carolina, and South Carolina also saw massive influxes of both people and prosperity.

The Constitution’s “Laboratories of Democracy”

This phenomenon is not an accident; it is a direct consequence of our constitutional design. The principle of federalism, which reserves significant powers to the states, creates what Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously called “laboratories of democracy.” Our constitutional system allows for fifty different experiments in governance to run simultaneously.

States are free to test different models of taxation, regulation, education, and social policy. This is then coupled with another, equally important constitutional principle: the fundamental right of American citizens to travel and establish residency in any state they choose. This freedom to “vote with your feet” is the ultimate accountability mechanism for state governments.

The Verdict of the People: A Referendum on Governance

When viewed through this constitutional lens, the migration data from the last decade becomes a clear verdict on these state-level experiments. A powerful pattern has emerged. States with lower overall tax burdens and less regulatory friction have been overwhelmingly more successful at attracting both human and financial capital than states with higher taxes and more extensive regulatory regimes.

This is not to say that one model is inherently “better” in a moral sense, but it is to say that a significant number of Americans have made a clear choice based on their own priorities. The data suggests that for millions of families and individuals, the promise of greater economic opportunity and a lower cost of living has become the single most important factor in deciding where to build their lives.

This silent referendum is a powerful expression of citizen power that operates outside of traditional election cycles. It is a demonstration that in the great competition of our federalist system, policy outcomes matter. The freedom to vote with your feet remains one of the most consequential rights we possess as citizens, and for the past decade, that vote has been cast in a clear, consistent, and constitutionally significant direction.