Republican Governors Blast CNBC Bottom-10 List as Texas Added 67,000 Residents
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Jul 16
Republican Governors Blast CNBC Bottom-10 List as Texas Added 67,000 Residents
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 16
Summary
CNBC’s 2026 quality-of-life rankings put 10 Republican-led states in the bottom 10, with Tennessee last and Texas, Georgia and Utah also on the list, triggering a coordinated backlash from GOP governors.
11.6% of CNBC’s overall state score now comes from its “Life, Health and Inclusion” category, which critics say penalizes restrictive abortion laws and limited LGBTQ+ protections alongside crime, air quality and healthcare data.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office called the ranking flawed, while Arkansas and Georgia argued migrants are “voting with their feet” for low taxes, affordability and conservative governance.
Census data underpins that rebuttal: Texas gained more than 67,000 domestic migrants from mid-2024 to mid-2025, Tennessee added over 42,000 and Alabama more than 23,000.
The dispute feeds a broader red-state versus blue-state narrative as Los Angeles County lost more than 53,000 residents and New York City saw net domestic outmigration of 114,000 over the same period.