But why are blue-staters fleeing to red states? A recent report by ALEC—one of the preeminent experts in research on state public policy—ranked America’s 50 governors, and the results tell a heck of a story. One that should be essential reading for any person—or business—thinking about moving from one state to another. Factors used in the ranking: gross state domestic product, unemployment rate, education performance, taxes, debt, spending, welfare dependency, union control and barriers to work.

Governors of red states dominated the top 15. In order from 1 to 15, they represented South Dakota (Kristi Noem-R), Utah (Spencer Cox-R), Florida (Ron DeSantis-R), Colorado (Jared Polis-D), Idaho (Brad Little-R), Tennessee (Bill Lee-R), New Hampshire (Chris Sununu-R), Arizona (Doug Ducey-R), Georgia (Brian Kemp-R), Texas (Greg Abbott-R), Nebraska (Pete Ricketts-R), Missouri (Mike Parson-R), Iowa (Kim Reynolds-R), North Dakota (Doug Burgum-R), and Oklahoma (Kevin Stitt-R).

An equally important report recently released by ALEC, “Unaccountable and Unaffordable,” tracked the public pension obligations of each state. “Unfunded state pension liabilities total $8.28 trillion or just under $25,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States,” the report began, citing the unprecedented nature of public pension indebtedness. Most of the damage, the report continued, was a result of a decrease in what’s called the risk-free discount rate, which had been caused by the decrease in U.S. Treasury note yields.