- Texas is the second most popular state in the United States to move to.
- Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson exclaimed its appeal this week in Davos, Switzerland.
- He cited relatively affordable housing and a free, clean, high quality of life as two of Texas' attractions.
People shouldn't mess with Texas.
Let's take a look at its advantages. Texas is her second most popular state to move to, after Florida.
Over the past few years, hundreds of thousands of transplants have moved to Texas. This is due in part to Texas' reputation for a low cost of living and abundant employment opportunities, which has helped make Texas' economy one of the strongest in the world.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson told Business Insider at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that there have always been two motivations for Americans to move to the state.
He said new entrants are attracted by relatively low prices for housing and other necessities. Additionally, California transplants primarily seek a better quality of life.
“People are moving from California to Texas because of politics and culture,” said Johnson, who recently switched political parties from Democratic to Republican in his fifth year as mayor. “They're not trying to take Texas back to where they came from.”
Based on the numbers, who is moving to Texas?
More than 668,300 people moved to Texas from 2021 to 2022, according to American Community Survey (ACS) data compiled by the Census Bureau.
More than 102,400 of those movers were from California, followed by Florida with 41,700 and New York with 30,900.
Texas in particular is attracting young people. His BI analysis of individual-level data from his 2022 ACS collected by his IPUMS program at the University of Minnesota shows that most people moving to Texas are Millennials (40.5%), Z generation (29.9%).
Part of Texas' appeal is its relatively affordable housing
Texas housing remains relatively affordable, an advantage at a time when U.S. home prices are nearing all-time highs.
“The Dallas housing market is very affordable for Californians and New Yorkers,” Johnson said.
Fed up with the Bay Area's high housing prices and competitive atmosphere, Pengyu Cheng, a program manager at a technology company, left San Francisco for the Austin suburbs in 2021.
In San Francisco, Chen and his wife rented a two-bedroom apartment for $3,100 a month. The couple bought a two-story home in Texas for $825,000, a fraction of what it would cost in California.
“Every time I looked at Redfin or read an article about median home prices, it was the same story: The real estate market is getting more and more expensive,” Chen, 40, previously told BI. Ta. “We went from being crammed into a small apartment to enjoying a 3,300+ square foot home with an office and a play area for our son.”
According to a BI analysis of census data, approximately 70% of people moving to Texas are renters and 30% are homeowners. According to his previous BI report, many of these moving companies have housing affordability as a top priority. As of 2022, the average home value for immigrants in the state was $451,568, lower than the national average of $493,000, according to Census data.
But newcomers flocking to the state are leading to higher home prices and property taxes, especially in metropolitan areas like Dallas and Austin. This makes housing less affordable for many locals, and some Texans are moving to more affordable states.
Mr Johnson reminded BI that all housing costs are relative. He said, “When you say, “It's expensive to live in Dallas,'' you're comparing Dallas to the Dallas of old.''
Johnson said it's important to build more housing, especially in Dallas, to keep housing relatively affordable. He wants to make it easier for home builders to get building permits.
“We need to encourage the private sector to build more housing,” he said. “Because it's not easy in Dallas right now. It should be easier. Don't complicate zoning. Zone more places to build housing to make it easier to build. ”
Political expression and safety concerns motivate some to move to Texas
Some immigrants to Texas told BI that they don't necessarily agree with the politics of the state they left behind and wanted to join a community with similar perspectives and a better cultural fit. There is.
Johnson said many transplants feel they have more freedom to express their political views, adding that many residents also feel safer in cities like Dallas.
He said Dallas residents have benefited from investments in the police department and infrastructure such as new sidewalks and smoother roads.
“The difference between Dallas and many of our major metropolitan competitors is that we want to put businesses and residents at the center, not the government,” Johnson said.
He added that newcomers are embracing all that Texas has to offer.
“Californians are the most outspoken and most adamant about how much they love their new home and how much they truly miss the one they left,” he said.
