The Most Prosperous States for the Last 10 Years - They All Have One Very Important Thing in Common

They all share natural beauties and bustling cities, but not all states are created equal, according to the latest rankings by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC is out with its Rich State, Poor State rankings, and it shows that the states that are projected to be the most economically competitive are in middle America. The most prosperous states in the past ten years were: Utah North Dakota Indiana North Carolina Arizona Idaho Georgia Wyoming South Dakota Nevada ALEC says the reasons for their success are simple. These states focus on holding down spending and entitlement programs, and passing tax policies that encourage companies to grow and hire more employees: "The Economic Performance Ranking is a backward-looking measure based on a state's performance on three important variables: State Gross Domestic Product, Absolute Domestic Migration, and Non-Farm Payroll Employment-all of which are highly influenced by state policy. This ranking details states' individual performances over the past 10 years based on this economic data." ............................................................................................................... The states on the bottom rung were: 1)New York 2)Vermont 3)Minnesota 4)Connecticut 5)New Jersey 6)Oregon 7)California 8)Montana 9)Maine 10)Pennsylvania 12)Illinois ALEC's retrospective look shows some of the states projected to do poorly in 2015 were some of the top performers between 2003-2013: Author Stephen Moore of the Heritage Foundation tells the Washington Examiner the reason that some states are doing better than others boiled down to economic freedom for the individual: "The evidence is 'overwhelming' that fiscally-conservative policies are successful for states, Moore claimed... 'How do you explain the huge exodus out of California?' Moore asked rhetorically, referring to the state's ranking of seventh to last in the index. 'They didn't move because of the weather.'" Economist Art Laffer and ALEC's Jonathan Williams also contributed to the survey.