New York and California lost a combined $92B in income as Americans left for other states — these are the low-tax areas that scooped up those billions

Two of the most populated and highest taxing states in the country — California and New York — lost about $92 billion in income over two years as a result of recent exoduses. Here’s what’s driving these great migrations and where those billions of dollars landed.

What the numbers show

New York state lost $25 billion in adjusted gross income from migration out of the state in 2021, according to Internal Revenue Service data analyzed by CNBC. This was on top of the $20 billion the state lost in 2020.

As for California, the Golden State lost $29 billion in 2021 after losing $18 billion in 2020.

That's a total of $92 billion between them over just two years. And overall, both states went from a budget surplus to a deficit.

However, New Yorkers and Californians can’t put all the blame on COVID-19. Migration from both states represents a growing trend that merely picked up speed during the pandemic as higher-income earners and businesses seek out lower-tax areas to set up shop.

Even so, the numbers were staggering. California and New York have seen more than three times the combined losses from before the pandemic in 2019, according to CNBC.

Florida soaking up the benefits

So where are those taxpayers headed? Florida, it turns out.

In fact, for the first time in 40 years, Florida came out as the big winner migration-wise. Based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Florida accounted for 9.6 million non-farm jobs by the end of 2022 — on par with New York’s tally of just below 9.7 million. In fact, Florida has just recently surpassed New York, per CNBC.