Sun Belt

For the NCAA Division I conference, see Sun Belt Conference

The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the South and Southwest. The Sun Belt has seen substantial demographic and economic growth in recent decades compared to the Rust Belt states of the Northeast and Midwest this sector in the Central Southern also incorporates the Great Plains. Another rough boundary of the region is the 37th to 38th parallels, north latitude- southward.

Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas are the states most commonly identified with the Sun Belt, and South Carolina, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Alabama are also within the same region as far as climate is concerned. Some people consider North Carolina to be a Sun Belt state because it has seen similar growth, although its climate is slightly more "wintry" than the others.

Every elected President of the United States since 1964 has come from a Sun Belt State. (Gerald Ford, born in Nebraska but raised in and primarily identified with Michigan, who served as president after Nixon's resignation, was not elected to the position.) They are:

Lyndon B. Johnson (1964) -- Texas
Richard M. Nixon (1968, 1972) -- California
Jimmy Carter (1976) -- Georgia
Ronald Reagan (1980, 1984) -- California (originally from Illinois)
George H. W. Bush (1988) -- Texas (originally from Massachusetts)
Bill Clinton (1992, 1996) -- Arkansas
George W. Bush (2000, 2004)-- Texas (originally from Connecticut)

Even more oddly, only one president prior to this was raised in a Sun Belt state—Woodrow Wilson, raised in Georgia—although two others, Andrew Johnson and James Polk, may be counted if North Carolina is included. Dwight D. Eisenhower can be considered as being from a Sun Belt state, as he was born in Texas; however, his family moved to Kansas when he was two years old, and he lived there throughout his childhood before leaving for West Point.

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See also