Regional Data Trends

The ultimately unrealized threat to the municipal bond tax-exemption and infrastructure needs were among the drivers of bond sales.

Dan Hartman of PFM attributed the drop to fewer prepaid gas deals, one-time large transactions last year like Jefferson County's and normal timing variations.

Midwest municipal bond volume surged more than 29% year-over-year to $46.05 billion for the first half of 2025.

Bond sales in the eight-state region totaled $54.9 billion, trailing the nation with an 8.1% gain year-over-year as Texas issuance slipped 7.6%.

Municipal issuers in the Northeast sold $72.25 billion of bonds in the first half of 2025, up 14.7% year-over-year, propelled by new money and GO deals.

Midwest bond sale volume peaked in the third quarter of 2024.

Issuers in five Far West states increased their borrowing the first half of the year, while four saw sizable decreases.

The region's municipal bond volume grew by 42.4%, outpacing the nationwide 32% increase in a first-half marked by gas prepay deals and Brightline's big sale.

Issuers in the eight-state region sold $50.6 billion of bonds with Texas accounting for 65% of the volume.

New York state's issuers topped the Northeast charts as issuance rose in nearly every sector of the market during the first half of 2024.

An off year from municipal bond issuers in the Northeast in 2023 pulled the national volume numbers into negative territory.

"I think we are starting toward higher volume," said Raul Amezcua, senior director at Samuel A. Ramirez & Co.

Natural gas prepayment deals helped drive the utilities sector to top the Southeast in an overall down year for municipal bond sales across the region.

Larger deals, fewer issues: those were the overarching municipal bond sale trends, along with a surge in tax-exempt deals, across the Midwest in 2023.

Texas bond volume climbed 22.5% to lead the nation in a year when issuance in the eight-state Southwest region increased by only 0.6%.