Blue states that have repeatedly imposed mask mandates, vaccine requirements, and lockdowns over the last year have lost population to red states that have done away with such policies.
Newly released data from the United States Census Bureau reveals that while blue states like California and New York have increasingly lost population from July 2020 to July 2021, red states such as Texas and Florida have seen population increases.
Thirty-three states saw population increases over the last year while 17 states, and Washington, D.C., saw their populations decline. New York has suffered the largest numerical population decline with roughly 319,000 fewer residents today than a year ago.
New York, especially New York City, has imposed school closures, business lockdowns, vaccine requirements, and mask mandates sporadically in the last 12 months.
Simultaneously, Texas — which has not had any statewide Chinese coronavirus-related restrictions since March — has gained population to the sum of more than 310,000 residents.
Florida, with a similar ethos of remaining open with little-to-no restrictions, saw the second-largest numeric population gains after Texas with more than 211,000 new residents.
California and Illinois, oppositely, saw the largest population decreases after New York.
In California, where mask mandates and vaccine requirements remain policy in major cities, there are nearly 262,000 fewer residents than there were before July 2020. In Illinois, with similar restrictive coronavirus-related policies and a statewide mask mandate, there are nearly 114,000 fewer residents.
Domestic migration out of California, New York, and Illinois were the largest of all 20 states and Washington, D.C. that saw population decreases as a result of residents moving out of state.
Florida, Texas, and Arizona saw the most growth from domestic migration.
Out of the top 10 states and territories with the most population decline from July 2020 to July 2021, eight are run by either Democrat legislatures or Democrat governors, or both. Of the top 10 states with the most population growth in the last year, nine are run by Republican governors and Republican-majority legislatures.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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