Eat your heart out, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA). The best-run state in the country is still Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s Florida.
For the third year in a row, CNBC ranked Florida as having the top economy in the country, based on factors such as GDP and job growth, credit ratings, spending, revenues, pension obligations, and the residential real estate market. Florida also ranks first in the U.S. News & World Report rankings on the economy, driven by the state’s top rank in growth. For comparison among the “Big Four” states, Texas’s economy ranked second in the CNBC and U.S. News & World Report rankings, and New York ranked fifth and 41st, respectively. California ranked 12th and 32nd, respectively.
Florida did this while having the fewest number of state employees per capita and the third fewest number of state and local government employees per capita, and while ranking second according to CNBC in attracting talent to its workforce. That means Florida’s growth is not coming from handing out government jobs and bloating the bureaucracy. For comparison, since the COVID-19 pandemic, California has relied on government job “creation” to make its labor market look better.
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Florida has done it all while not wasting taxpayer dollars. Florida’s spending per capita is roughly less than half of California’s, and just over half of New York’s. That is even more notable when considering those states’ population trends. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Florida in 2023 was still the second-fastest growing state in the country, while California’s population dropped by another 75,000. California is projected to lose another four congressional seats in 2030 after losing a seat for the first time in its history after the 2020 census. Florida is projected to gain four seats, tied with Texas for the largest gains of any state.
While Newsom boasts about California’s GDP and ignores the Californians left behind by his policies, the numbers do not lie. Florida is a hot economy, creating opportunities for businesses and workers; the population shifts and economic numbers prove that. Florida does not impose the yoke of government on businesses and workers, and the results have been a resounding success that Democratic states such as California and New York could only dream of.