Sun Belt

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The Sun Belt, highlighted in red

This article is about the region of the United States. For the American athletic 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 geographic southern United States). Another rough boundary of the region is the 37th to 38th parallels, north latitude — southward. The Sun Belt has seen substantial population growth in recent decades, partly fueled by a surge in retiring baby boomers who migrate domestically, as well as the influx of immigrants, both legal and illegal. Also, over the past several decades, air conditioning has made it easier for people to deal with the oppressive heat that grips the region during the summertime.

Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, South Carolina, and Texas are commonly thought to belong to the Sun Belt. Some consider parts of Arkansas, Colorado, North Carolina and Tennessee to be Sun Belt states, although their climates are slightly more "wintery" than the other states in the group. The Bible Belt occupies much of the same geography as the Sun Belt, with the exception of the southwest. The two terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Important cities in the Sun Belt include:

Author and political analyst Kevin Phillips claims to have coined the term "to describe the oil, military, aerospace and retirement country stretching from Florida to California" in his 1969 book The Emerging Republican Majority.^[1]