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JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon took aim at cities and states with high corporate taxes in his recent letter to shareholders, claiming it’s not “a moral or loyalty issue” when companies move to more tax-friendly locales (1).
He added that the “fairly large exodus” out of such states represent those who “vote with their feet.”
“Companies need to remain competitive in this very tough, fast-moving world,” Dimon argued.
“And higher taxes mean lower returns on capital and less competitiveness by their nature,”
Dimon compared headcounts at his company’s New York City headquarters and Texas offices over the past decade. While their New York workforce shrank from 30,000 to 24,000 employees, their Texas workforce grew by the same amount — 6,000 people — expanding from 26,000 to 32,000 employees. He said that trend “will likely continue.”
In some ways, it’s unsurprising. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s recently revised corporate tax hike pitch would see financial firms pay a 10.8% rate, up from 9%, and non-financial firms paying a 10.62% rate — a nearly 2% increase (2) that seems to bolster Dimon’s point.
But is the “exodus” as dire as Dimon says? And how do shareholders benefit from such moves?
Texas, which boasts no state corporate or personal income tax and fewer regulatory hurdles, experienced an influx of business relocations from higher-tax and regulation states like New York and California in recent years.
Real estate investment firm CBRE noted that Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin, Texas “remain the strongest magnets” for corporate relocations, with over 100 firms relocating there (3) since 2018. The shift earned Dallas-Fort Worth the nickname “Y’all Street.”
Recent, or upcoming, Texas transplants include a new Wells Fargo campus and headquarters for ExxonMobil, Chevron, Tesla, SpaceX and Goldman Sachs. Apollo Global Management is reportedly weighing its options between setting up a secondary headquarters in Texas or Florida (4).
Florida offers a low 5.5% corporate tax rate (5), no income or property tax and many other business incentives (6). Major companies, including Citadel Securities and Palantir Technologies, have moved to Florida or announced plans to move there.
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CBRE ranked Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach second in the country in 2025 for regions that gained new headquarters, while Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater came in eighth.
The same report showed that three of the top four regions that lost headquarters last year were in California, which is known for its 8.84% corporate tax rate (7), corporate regulatory environment and high cost of living. The other region in the top four was New York-Newark-Jersey City — the latter of which boasts an 11.5% corporate tax rate, the highest in the nation (8).
The exodus from California and New York is not new. The Financial Times reported that more American firms relocated from those two states than any others since 2015 (9).
So who benefits from such moves?
New York University research suggests (10) shareholders do, as they “bear the burden of higher corporate tax” in lower corporate profits and dividends. A 2023 National Bureau of Economic Research study backs this up, finding that shareholders “receive roughly half of the benefit of a corporate tax cut (11)” — as might result from a relocation.
Meanwhile, George Mason University research suggests that workers (12) would benefit from such a relocation, as companies paying higher corporate taxes are likelier to cut wages and jobs — particularly in a globalized economy.
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While higher tax rates have prompted some businesses and residents to leave New York and California for lower or no-tax states, that’s not the full picture.
Jamie Dimon may talk about an exodus, but in October, his own company touted the grand opening of its global headquarters in New York as “a major step” in its “ongoing investment in Midtown Manhattan (13).”
American Express and the Bank of America are opening new offices there. Citadel Securities, which moved from Chicago to Miami, is building a new office space in New York (14). Goldman Sachs never left.
New York City is now a big draw for AI firms. Real estate investment and management firm JLL reported that AI companies scooped up half the city’s 2025’s leasing volume in the first quarter (15) of 2026 — and office vacancy rates plunged 13.5%.
CBRE reported that “of the nation’s top 100 occupier expansions … Manhattan captured 36% of total square footage (16).”
Comerica Bank, meanwhile, found that, last year, California’s economy outperformed the rest of the country, and that tech and AI companies “are forecast to fuel another year of strong economic growth in 2026,” including “robust business investment (17).”
SpaceX remains in California. And despite Tesla’s move to Texas, it still includes a robotics facility in California amongst its $20 billion investment plans (18).
These big American firms are still invested in America’s biggest states, regardless of state corporate taxes.
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JPMorgan Chase (1),(13); New York Focus (2); CBRE (3),(16); Fox Business (4); Tax Foundation (5),(8); Business.com (6); Medium (7); Archive.ph (9); New York University (10); National Bureau of Economic Research (11); Mercatus Center at George Mason University (12); CNBC (14); JLL (15); Comerica Bank (17); CoStar (18)
This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com under the title: Jamie Dimon says exodus of firms to Texas is not a ‘moral or loyalty issue.’ What’s behind the moves and who gains?
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