Jersey’s No. 1!

Want the good news or bad news first? The good news is New Jersey ranks as the richest state in America, at least according to the financialresearch firm WalletHub. That tied it with the District of Columbia. The WalletHub rankings are based on income, GDP and taxes paid.

The bad news? Everyone in Jersey seems to be heading for the exits.

That’s the latest nugget from United Van Lines, the largest mover of household goods in the United States.

The moving company has been tracking this information for nearly four decades. Its Annual National Movers Study for 2014 ranked the Garden State as tops for having the largest percentage of people moving to another state, with 65% of the Jersey moves headed outbound.

New York shouldn’t get complacent: The same data show the Empire State right behind Jersey at 64%. In otherwords, for every one household that moved in, roughly two moved out. Connecticut at 57% wasn’t as bad as New York or New Jersey, but it still made the top 10.

Now, moving vans are only one measure of population patterns. But the United Van Lines studies have roughly tracked Census and IRS data showing more and more people in our tristate area moving elsewhere, especially to states “where housing costs are relatively lower, climates are more temperate and job growth has been at or above the national average.”

One of them is Florida, a state that has no incometax, plenty of sun and a governor, Rick Scott, who used his annual address this past Tuesday to say he intends to poach evenmore citizens from this area.

The consequences of a population exodus are almost always grim. At a time when state budgets are already strapped, it means lower tax revenues. It also means less political representation in Washington. And it means a more dismal outlook for jobs and the economy as people take their capital and knowhow with them.

Both Govs. Cuomo and Chris Christie campaigned on the understanding that their states’ high taxes and heavy regulations were a huge obstacle to the future of their states.

Unfortunately, the gains since then have been small and marginal. And until our respective establishments in Albany and Trenton change this, the most important votes our citizens cast will continue to be with their feet.