Recruiters have known this for years. It used to be the hotbeds for college football talent were Texas, California and “PennWevO” (an area of Eastern Ohio, Northern WV and Western Pennsylvania) but Florida has now become probably the top area in the past 20 years while the rust belt has lost some of its luster.
I must be lucky because once you get to know the area, northern California has a very strong high school football presence, with a good number of players going on to college. I know of a number of high schools in my area (Sacramento) that have sent a good number of players to NCAA Division 1 FBS level schools.