Gulf South Index
Built from research, local perspective and decades of regional experience, the Gulf South Index helps leaders better understand the people, trends and decisions shaping our region.
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The Rewatch Strikes Back!
Life is full of decisions. Every single day, we decide what time to set our alarm, what to wear, what to eat, what to prioritize at work, and at the end of a long day, what to watch. Streaming services have taken over from traditional cable television viewing. 80.7 million US households are expected to have cut the cord by the end of 2026.
Thanks, I’ll Let the Robot Decide
Recently, a friend was planning a business trip to a city I’ve visited countless times. He needed a recommendation for an informal meeting, like a lounge or hotel bar. I sent him a list of places I recommended, and a few minutes later, he replied and told me that he put my list into Chat GPT and asked it to help him choose.
The Summer of American Dreams
If your social media feed looks anything like mine, you’ve had a delightful scroll for the past few weeks of 2026 FIFA World Cup tourists from around the world loving America. Football fanatics are documenting and sharing their Waffle House runs; the glory over portion sizes and unlimited soda refills WITH ICE; yellow school buses; Walmart, Buc-cees and Target; and the unbridled hospitality of everyone they seem to encounter – whether it’s a Boston policeman showing kilt-clad Scotsmen his soccer skills to or an Alabama hotel receptionist driving German fans to a stadium to save them car-share fare.
Everybody Knows Everything and Barely Understands Anything
“The United States was a reasonably happy country for a long time. It is not happy now.” That sentence comes from Sam Peltzman, an economist at the University of Chicago, in a 2026 paper about the collapse in American happiness after 2020. A brutally direct statement and a useful one. After years of using the Gulf South Index to talk about backyard optimism – people often feel better the closer you get to their own home, family and community – this feels like the best description of the moment.
Growing Pains
America is wealthier than ever. Individual net worths have continued to grow, as has our country’s GDP, all while the unemployment rate remains low. And yet, in regular polling, we seem increasingly lost – describing our lives and our country in terms of exhaustion, instability and distrust. And this problem doesn’t have one singular cause.
Don’t Make Me Pull This Car Over!
Schools are out. Many parents are looking forward to using their hard-earned PTO while their children are home from school. And most Gulf South residents are looking for ways to escape the heat. Summer road trips, especially beach vacations (Hello, 30A!), remain a longstanding Gulf South tradition. But in 2026, can the average citizen still afford the summer getaway they typically take?
The Great American Divide?
Breaking news. America is divided. With overwhelming online noise, the news playing in the background and crazy Facebook aunts constantly in our ears, this anxious feeling of division can’t seem to leave our day-to-day lives. But if we look beyond the volume and unrelenting chatter, we might find that we still have much more in common than we think.
In the Living Room, on the Phone: The State of Streaming in 2026
It’s the end of a long day – whether it’s work, errands or spending time with family and friends. For years now, many Americans’ biggest want after a long day’s work is to sit in front of the TV – but what that meant even just 20 years ago is drastically different than what it means now.
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