Home › Regions › Cultural Regions
The Sun Belt
The fast-growing warm-climate southern tier
The Sun Belt is the broad warm-climate band across the southern United States, running from the Carolinas and Florida through the Gulf states and Texas to Arizona and Southern California. It is defined less by a shared history than by a shared trajectory: explosive post-World War II growth, made livable year-round by air conditioning and fueled by migration of people, jobs, and retirees out of the colder, older industrial North.
Its metros - Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, Las Vegas - are among the fastest-growing in the country, and the regional shift has steadily moved population, economic weight, and political power southward and westward over the past several decades. Low taxes, cheaper land, sprawling suburbs, and a mild winter climate are the recurring themes of Sun Belt growth.