Red States: Less Freedom, More Poverty, Shorter Lives

Nothing better illustrates each parties vision than how they manage statewide policy.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. AP/Getty Images

After analyzing comprehensive federal data from 2023-2024 across states with at least eight years of consistent party control,² the conclusion is inescapable: Democratic states crush Republican states on health outcomes, education quality, and personal freedoms. Republican states have lower taxes and cheaper housing. That's about it.

Let's start with the most basic metric: staying alive. Democratic states own the top of the life expectancy rankings. Hawaii leads at 79.9 years, followed by Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York.¹ Republican states own the bottom. Mississippi's 70.9 years ranks dead last, followed by West Virginia, Alabama, Louisiana, and Kentucky.¹

This isn't bad luck or geography. It's what the Repulican party wants for it’s constituents.

Texas has the highest uninsured rate in America at 18.8%.³ Massachusetts has the lowest at 2.9%.³ Every single state that refused to expand Medicaid has a Republican trifecta.⁴ The result? People die from treatable diseases.

Maternal mortality tells the same story. Louisiana kills mothers at 58.1 deaths per 100,000 births. Georgia follows at 48.4, then Indiana, Arkansas, and Alabama, all Republican strongholds.⁵ Massachusetts loses just 17 mothers per 100,000 births. California loses even fewer.⁵

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For babies, Mississippi's infant mortality rate of 9.11 deaths per 1,000 births doubles that of Massachusetts at 3.94.⁶ If Mississippi had Massachusetts' infant mortality rate, 250 Mississippi babies would live each year instead of dying.

Republicans claim their states are economic powerhouses. The data says otherwise. Maryland's median household income hits $108,200. Massachusetts reaches $96,900. Connecticut follows close behind.⁷ Mississippi scrapes by at $52,700, West Virginia at $55,200, Louisiana at $57,500.⁷

"But the cost of living!" Republicans counter. Fair enough, let’s check the numbers. After adjusting for costs, Mississippi's purchasing power rises to $48,200.⁸ Still dead last. Still thousands below every blue state average.

The poverty numbers are worse. Louisiana's poverty rate hits 18.9%. Mississippi follows at 17.3%, Arkansas at 15.8%.⁹ New Hampshire sits at 7.2%. Vermont at 8.8%. Massachusetts at 9.3%.⁹

Children, like any vulnerable group, suffer even more when Republicans are given any power. Mississippi condemns 26.4% of its children to poverty.¹⁰ One in four kids. New Hampshire's child poverty rate? 6.9%.¹⁰ That's the difference between a developed and undeveloped nation.

Education follows the same stark pattern. Massachusetts students score 225 on fourth-grade reading tests.¹¹ The national average is 214. Mississippi students score 208.¹¹ By eighth grade, the gap widens further. The entire top tier of education performance consists of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, and New Jersey, all blue states.¹¹ The bottom tier includes New Mexico, Alabama, Louisiana, and Nevada, all deep red states except New Mexico.¹¹

Money matters here. New York spends $29,284 per student. Connecticut spends $25,000. Massachusetts spends $22,000.¹² Now look at the states with the worst educational outcomes: Mississippi spends $10,343. Alabama spends $11,774. Louisiana spends $13,108. Oklahoma spends $9,893. Idaho barely cracks $9,000.¹² Mississippi spends literally one-third of what New York spends per student. You get what you pay for, and Republican states don’t see children our future as a worthwhile investment.

The college graduation gap is enormous. In Massachusetts, 50.6% of adults have bachelor's degrees.¹³ In West Virginia, 24.1% do.¹³ Every blue state in our analysis exceeds 35% college graduation. Most red states can't crack 30%.

Before you say "Mississippi is just poor," let's talk about Texas and Florida. Texas has the second largest economy in America. Florida has the fourth. These aren't poor states, they're economic powerhouses that choose to let their people suffer. Texas, despite its trillion-dollar economy, maintains the highest uninsured rate in the nation at 18.8%. Florida, despite massive budget surpluses, ranks 44th in healthcare access and has the most regressive tax system in America. Meanwhile, Vermont, with an economy smaller than Corpus Christi's, provides near-universal healthcare coverage. Maine, with half of Florida's GDP per capita, achieves better education outcomes. New Mexico, despite being one of the poorest blue states, still manages lower maternal mortality than wealthy Texas. This isn't about money. It's about choices. Red states with plenty of money choose to spend it on corporate tax breaks instead of keeping mothers alive. They choose to ban books instead of fund schools. They have the resources to match Massachusetts' outcomes tomorrow. They simply choose not to.

Another important factor to review is the Republican love of heavy taxation. Poor and middle-class families actually pay more in red states. Texas has no income tax, true. But its sales tax hits 8.25%, and the poorest 20% of Texans pay 13% of their income in total state and local taxes while the richest 1% pay just 4.6%.²⁶ Tennessee? Same story. No income tax, but the poor pay 10.5% of their income in taxes while the rich pay 3.1%.²⁶ Washington State, despite being blue, has this same regressive problem, which is why Democrats there keep trying to fix it.

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that in the 10 most regressive tax states, mostly Republican-controlled, families earning under $24,000 pay up to 17% of their income in state and local taxes. In the 10 least regressive states, mostly Democratic, those same families pay around 7-10%.²⁶ When Republicans brag about "no income tax," they're really saying "we tax the poor instead of the rich." Blue states use graduated income taxes that protect working families. Red states use sales taxes and fees that hammer them. A family making $30,000 in Texas pays a higher percentage of their income in taxes than a family making $30,000 in California.²⁶ So much for the low-tax paradise.

Republicans love talking about freedom. Let's examine what freedom actually means in red states. In Texas, the government forces women to carry dead fetuses to term.¹⁴ Women have died from this. In Florida, the state investigates parents who support their trans children.¹⁵ In Tennessee, you can be fired for being gay.¹⁶ In Alabama, librarians face prison for having the wrong books.¹⁷

That's not freedom. That's authoritarian control.

Meanwhile, in blue states, consenting adults can marry, adopt, and live without fear.¹⁶ Women make their own reproductive healthcare decisions.¹⁴ Trans people receive medical care.¹⁵ You can read any book you want.¹⁷ You can smoke marijuana without becoming a felon.¹⁸ You can vote easily with early voting and mail ballots, because that’s what happens in free democracies.¹⁹

The book banning numbers show a clear divide. Florida banned 4,561 books last school year, nearly half the national total.²⁰ Iowa banned 3,671.²⁰ Meanwhile, California, New York, and Illinois banned zero. Zero.²⁰

Here's the good news: people who want this lifestyle are moving to red states. Texas gained 85,267 residents last year. North Carolina added 82,288. South Carolina picked up 68,043.²³ Meanwhile, California lost 239,575 people, New York lost 120,917, Illinois lost 56,235.²³

Why would people move to states with worse schools, worse healthcare, shorter lives, and fewer freedoms?

One word: money. Not higher incomes, since we've established those are lower in red states. But lower costs. The median home in California costs $800,000. In Texas, it's $350,000.²⁴ When you're a millennial software engineer making $150,000 remotely, that Texas house looks awfully tempting, even if your kids will attend worse schools.

The migration data reveals something else: it's slowing dramatically. Florida's net migration dropped 80% from 2022 to 2024.²³ As remote work policies tighten and people experience the reality of life in these states, the exodus is decelerating.

We now have two separate countries operating under one flag. In Blue America, people live longer, earn more, learn more, and enjoy more personal freedom. They also pay more for housing.²⁵ In Red America, people die younger, earn less, learn less, and face government intrusion into their most personal decisions. But their houses are more affordable.

This isn't about cultural preferences or regional traditions. It's about measurable outcomes. When your state has the highest maternal mortality in the developed world, Louisiana, that's not a different philosophy.⁵ That's failure. When 26% of your children live in poverty while another state achieves 7%, you're not "choosing different values."¹⁰ You're failing your kids. When you ban 4,561 books while claiming to support freedom, you're not protecting anyone.²⁰ You're revealing your authoritarian impulses.

If you didn't know whether you'd be born rich or poor, black or white, straight or gay, healthy or sick, which state would you choose? If you're honest, you'd pick Massachusetts over Mississippi every time. You'd choose life over death, education over ignorance, freedom over control.

The data doesn't lie. The gap between red and blue states isn't closing. It's widening. Every year, the life expectancy gap grows. The education gap expands. The freedom gap yawns wider.

Republicans will keep claiming their states are better. But their residents keep dying younger, earning less, and learning less while having their most fundamental freedoms stripped away. That's not partisan spin. That's what the numbers show. This is a feature, not a bug for Republicans, they would rather rule over hell than serve in heaven.

The American experiment was supposed to let states compete to provide the best life for their citizens. That competition is over. Blue states won.

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For more on why red states choose suffering over solutions, see my book "Conservatism: America's Empathy Disorder" - available on Amazon.

https://a.co/d/2dM43m5

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Works Cited

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Life Expectancy by State." 2023-2024. National Center for Health Statistics.

2. Ballotpedia. "State Government Trifectas." Accessed January 2025. https://ballotpedia.org/State_government_trifectas

3. Cover Texas Now. "New Census Data: Texas Has Worst Uninsured Rate in US." September 12, 2024. https://covertexasnow.org/posts/2024/9/12/new-census-data-texas-has-worst-uninsured-rate-in-us

4. Kaiser Family Foundation. "Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions." 2024.

5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Maternal Mortality Rates by State." 2023-2024. National Vital Statistics Reports.

6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Infant Mortality Statistics." 2023-2024. National Vital Statistics System.

7. U.S. Census Bureau. "Household Income in States and Metropolitan Areas: 2023." September 2024. https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2024/acs/acsbr-023.html

8. World Population Review. "Cost of Living Index by State 2025." 2025. https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/cost-of-living-index-by-state

9. U.S. Census Bureau. "Poverty in the United States: 2023." Current Population Survey.

10. Annie E. Casey Foundation. "2025 KIDS COUNT Data Book." 2025. https://www.aecf.org/resources/2025-kids-count-data-book

11. National Assessment of Educational Progress. "State Performance Compared to the Nation." 2023-2024. National Center for Education Statistics.

12. National Center for Education Statistics. "Public Elementary and Secondary School Expenditures." Fiscal 2022. https://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/press_releases/5_7_2024.asp

13. U.S. Census Bureau. "Educational Attainment in the United States." 2023. American Community Survey.

14. Guttmacher Institute. "State Bans on Abortion Throughout Pregnancy." 2024. https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/state-policies-abortion-bans

15. Movement Advancement Project. "Bans on Best Practice Medical Care for Transgender Youth." 2024. https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/healthcare_youth_medical_care_bans

16. Movement Advancement Project. "Snapshot: LGBTQ Equality by State." 2024. https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps

17. PEN America. "Banned in the USA: Beyond the Shelves." 2024. https://pen.org/report/beyond-the-shelves/

18. National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "State Laws." 2024.

19. Brennan Center for Justice. "Voting Laws Roundup: May 2024." May 2024. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-may-2024

20. PEN America. "Nearly 200 Percent Surge in School Book Bans During 2023-2024 School Year." 2024. https://pen.org/press-release/nearly-200-percent-surge-in-school-book-bans-during-2023-2024-school-year/

21. Kaiser Family Foundation. "Policy Tracker: Youth Access to Gender Affirming Care and State Policy Restrictions." 2024. https://www.kff.org/other/dashboard/gender-affirming-care-policy-tracker/

22. Guttmacher Institute. "Full-Year US Abortion Data for 2024." January 2025. https://www.guttmacher.org/news-release/2025/guttmacher-institute-releases-full-year-us-abortion-data-2024

23. Resi Club Analytics. "Net Domestic Migration: Which States Are Gaining and Losing Americans." 2024. https://www.resiclubanalytics.com/p/net-domestic-migration-which-states-are-gaining-and-losing-americans

24. National Association of Realtors. "Median Home Prices by State." 2024.

25. Tax Foundation. "Americans Moved to Low-Tax States in 2024." 2024. https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/americans-moving-to-states/

26. Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. "Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States." 7th Edition, 2024.]

27. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. "Gross Domestic Product by State, 2023." Released June 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/gdp/gdp-state

28. Commonwealth Fund. "2024 Scorecard on State Health System Performance." June 2024. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/scorecard/2024/jun/2024-scorecard-state-health-system-performance

29. Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. "Who Pays? 7th Edition." January 2024. https://itep.org/whopays-7th-edition/

30. U.S. Census Bureau. "Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2023." September 2024.

31. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. "Per Capita Real GDP by State." 2023 Annual. https://www.bea.gov/data/gdp/gdp-state

32. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Maternal Mortality Rates by State, 2018-2021." National Vital Statistics Reports, 2024.