What is the significance of the Sun Belt's GDP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do people realize California is a sun belt state? California, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina … Tennessee. They’re all booming.

The large cities in those states are booming. Not the small towns and rural areas.

Cite?

NP I live in North Carolina. This is exactly what is happening here! Almost all of the growth here is in the Charlotte metro and the Raleigh metro. The only rural areas that are growing are the ones on the edges of those cities. Kind of how Gainesville, VA used to be rural and is now an exurb of DC. Otherwise, most of the rest of the state is stagnant or declining.

Ok, that is anecdotal. A previous link on this thread shows that small towns in the south are growing, while in the midwest and northeast, small towns are shrinking.

Even your example shows that it's *suburbs* that are growing, not cities. (Which all the data supports.) The pp is saying that *cities* are driving the growth. In fact, it is mostly suburbs, like Georgetown, TX, Murfreesboro, TN, Frisco, TX, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do people realize California is a sun belt state? California, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina … Tennessee. They’re all booming.

The large cities in those states are booming. Not the small towns and rural areas.

Cite?

NP I live in North Carolina. This is exactly what is happening here! Almost all of the growth here is in the Charlotte metro and the Raleigh metro. The only rural areas that are growing are the ones on the edges of those cities. Kind of how Gainesville, VA used to be rural and is now an exurb of DC. Otherwise, most of the rest of the state is stagnant or declining.

Ok, that is anecdotal. A previous link on this thread shows that small towns in the south are growing, while in the midwest and northeast, small towns are shrinking.

Even your example shows that it's *suburbs* that are growing, not cities. (Which all the data supports.) The pp is saying that *cities* are driving the growth. In fact, it is mostly suburbs, like Georgetown, TX, Murfreesboro, TN, Frisco, TX, etc.

As cities grow, suburbs around them grow, too. But small towns in the middle of nowhere NC are not growing. Small towns/suburbs that are part of larger metro areas in the south are growing, in addition to the cities themselves. The largest cities in NC are Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, Durham, Winston-Salem, Fayetteville, Wilmington, and Asheville.

Facts:
From 2010 to 2020:
North Carolina grew by 904K people.
Wake County which is where Raleigh is located grew by 229K
Johnston County which is part of the Raleigh suburbs grew by 47K
Mecklinburg County which is where Charlotte is located grew by 196K
Cabarrus County which is part of the Charlotte suburbs grew by 48K
Gaston County which is part of the Charlotte suburbs grew by 22K
Durham County which is where Durham is located grew by 57K
Guilford County which is where Greensboro is located grew by 53K
Forsyth County which is where Winston Salem is located grew by 32K
Buncombe County which is where Asheville is located grew by 31K
New Hanover County which is where Wilmington is located grew by 23K
Cumberland County which is where Fayetteville is located grew by 16K
Brunswick County which is the only county not near one of NC's cities that grew a lot and that's because it's near the coast and Myrtle Beach SC and is a very popular retirement destination for northerners grew by 30K.

So 784K of the 904K growth (87%) was in and around North Carolina's 8 biggest cities and one coastal retirement destination.

North Carolina has 100 counties, and only 12 counties account for 87% of its growth! And I guarantee you that if I add in the other counties surrounding Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham, that would bring it up to well over 90% of the state's growth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Lots of boomers retiring. That wealth growth in the South is likely coming from more pension and SS income. There's a difference between GDP that is coming from those sources and GDP from the growth of industry and businesses. It would be interesting to know how much of the growth is from retirees and how much from working people moving.

At the same time that SS payment show up as red taker state.

Also many army base south country.

Very confusing number

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Lots of boomers retiring. That wealth growth in the South is likely coming from more pension and SS income. There's a difference between GDP that is coming from those sources and GDP from the growth of industry and businesses. It would be interesting to know how much of the growth is from retirees and how much from working people moving.

At the same time that SS payment show up as red taker state.

Also many army base south country.

Very confusing number

From the BEA 1st Quarter 2023 GDP by State release:

Health care and social assistance increased in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and was the leading contributor to growth in 15 states.

Transfer receipts increased in 45 states and the District of Columbia, while growing 6.1 percent nationally. The growth in transfer receipts reflected an 8.7 percent increase in the cost-of-living adjustment for social security benefits.

https://www.bea.gov/news/2023/gross-domestic-product-state-and-personal-income-state-1st-quarter-2023