- It’s no surprise that Texas is one of the top states in the country for attracting new residents.
- Surprisingly, some newcomers are avoiding big cities like Austin and Dallas in favor of smaller spots.
- Movers say smaller cities and suburbs offer more ways to buy a home and form a community.
In the early 2000s, my parents, who are from Liberia, and I moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. We spent a few years in Massachusetts, where the winters were cold and the cost of living was high.
Texas became a haven for my parents, young immigrants trying to make it in a country that sometimes felt overwhelmingly unfamiliar and difficult. To them, Texas represented many things: a place where they could save money and get ahead, a place that still retained some of the values of hard work and community they had left behind across the Atlantic.
In the nearly 20 years since then, my parents have accomplished a lot: they sent me and my brother to college, started an appliance repair business, and even built our dream home — all in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Given the success that Texas has achieved, it is no wonder the state continues to attract so much attention. In 2021 and 2022, Texas is 670,000 new residentsaccording to Census Bureau Data — the second-highest rate in the state behind Florida. Recent immigrants to Texas interviewed by Business Insider cited the following as their motivation for moving: More affordable housing and rents, Political freedom, Slow Lifemore.
As a Texan, it’s not surprising that these factors have attracted hundreds of thousands of people to the state over the past few years. What intrigues me is where these migrants are in their pursuit of the American Dream, and how that has changed since my family landed on Texas soil.
Instead of relocating to the state’s larger cities, newcomers and longtime residents are increasingly choosing places considered second-tier cities and suburbs, like New Braunfels, located in the heart of the Texas hill country, between San Antonio and Austin to the west and Katy to the east, and a 30-minute drive west of Houston.
Census data comparing Texas city populations in 2020 and mid-2022 estimates shows that smaller cities like New Braunfels and Katy have seen rapid population growth, while larger cities like Austin, Houston and Dallas have seen minimal population growth and even net losses.
I set out to find out why.
Texas’ big cities are losing their appeal to some
Many of my friends and I aspired to move from small college towns to Dallas or Austin, cities that seemed larger than life to us at the time.
However, a few years after graduation, many of those who make it to these big cities return to their smaller hometowns or settle in the suburbs that surround the densely populated metropolises.
They are looking for a more enjoyable lifestyle at an affordable price, something that can be hard to find in big Texas cities.
Take Austin for example. The blossoming big tech scene The rise of remote work across the country has significantly changed that nature.
Once known for its laid-back atmosphere and abundance of family-run businesses, some now see its “small town” charm as being overrun with run-of-the-mill buildings, upscale restaurants and heavy traffic. The arrival of higher-income immigrants has also driven up housing costs, Reduce local prices And it’s deterring potential homebuyers who once dreamed of owning a home in the city.
Every month, housing site Redfin analyzes how many people in U.S. cities are searching for housing within their own city versus outside of it, which Redfin sees as an indicator of whether more people are looking to stay in or leave a city.
Austin? Redfin reported in October that for the first time on record, the number of people dreaming of moving out of the city has increased.
Home buyers attracted to small Texas cities
Austin’s cultural and economic transformation is rippled through major cities across Texas.
As a result, many homebuyers are looking for more affordable and affordable housing. Secondary cities Katy and New Braunfels, for example. Both areas are among the fastest-growing cities in the U.S., according to census data.
The concept of the American Dream has historically equated homeownership with a significant milestone. Over the past few months, I’ve spoken with several homebuyers who told me that in Texas, especially in rural areas, they have a better chance of being able to pursue that (very expensive) element of the American Dream.
In October I interviewed 29-year-old Keana Darling. Single mom moves to Katy Katy has become my favorite city this year. Before this story, Katy was not on my radar, even though it is a city known for great schools and such. Drake’s 2020 hit “desire“
Darling said she was living in a $2,900-a-month high-rise rental apartment in downtown Houston before moving to Katy, and she became concerned about her family’s safety.
“Our apartments were being burglarized, our cars were being burglarized, the homeless situation was terrible,” she said. “I felt like I couldn’t even walk my dog outside.”
After visiting a friend, Katie decides to move to the city, where prices are relatively low. real estate She had a better chance of homeownership there than she did in Houston.
“My friend was younger than me and I thought if she could buy a house there, I could too,” she said.
Darling’s guess was correct: In August, she purchased the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home for $324,000.
She told me that moving to Katy not only gave her the chance to build a generational fortune for her children, but it also gave her neighbors who feel like family.
“Katie is so diverse, and I love that,” Darling said. “As a black single mom, the fact that I have such many diverse neighbors, from all different backgrounds and races, who are all really good people, is huge.”
This week I met with California native Janelle Crossan, a 44-year-old single mother who also chose to live in a small Texas town: New Braunfels, a city between Austin and San Antonio with a strong German heritage and iconic Schlitterbahn Waterpark.
“I realized that a lot of the things I wanted to get away from in California might be specific to a big city, so I decided to try something new,” she said. “I wanted my whole life to be different. In New Braunfels I slowed down my pace and I really love it here.”
Divorced and struggling to make ends meet in Costa Mesa, a city south of Los Angeles, Crossan was looking for an affordable place to buy a home and a “nice, nice place to raise my kids.” After moving to New Braunfels in 2020, Crossan bought her first home for $240,000.
“I paid $1,750 in rent for a crappy little apartment in California,” Crossan told BI reporter Erin Snodgrass earlier this year. “Now, three years later, my rent for my three-bedroom home, including mortgage and property taxes, is $1,800 a month.”
After considering all the evidence, I found my answer.
The promise of possibility and opportunity, the same American dream my parents pursued, is now drawing migrants to smaller places where they believe a lower cost of living and closer-knit communities are easier to come by.
Digging into the census data with the help of BI’s economic data editor, Andy Kiels, we found that the towns and cities with the highest population growth rates in Texas were actually outside of major cities: My family’s hometown of Josephine, Caddo Mills, and Celina outside Dallas-Fort Worth, Liberty Hill outside Austin, and Fulshear outside Houston all more than doubled in population.
It’s no surprise that many Americans are pursuing the American Dream in Texas. Increase in property taxes, Divided politicsand Outdated energy gridthe state still A desirable place to live.
Perhaps more interesting, at least to me, is the rise of what might be called Texas’ underdog cities, which highlights just how much things have changed since my parents came to Texas to realize their dreams more than 20 years ago.
Correction: Dec. 18, 2023 — An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the city where Janelle Crossan previously lived. She moved from Costa Mesa, California, not Mesa, California.
