Texans love just about everything about their state, except perhaps for the lack of rain and 100+ degree days this summer.
But how deep is that love?
People born in Texas are the least likely to move in the nation, according to a new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
Maybe it's the Lone Star State's legendary big sky and its come-and-take culture. Or maybe it's the extensive Tex-Mex cuisine and live music. Or maybe it's the cultural diversity of a big city versus the character and charm of a small town.
Whatever the reason, the nation's “resilience,” as the Fed puts it, is a key driver of economic growth.
“The percentage of people born in a state who stay in a state is an important measure of a state's attractiveness to workers.” .
“Indigenous tenacity is also key to maintaining stable (or growing) populations and labor forces, which are essential for economic growth,” the researchers wrote.
They found that as of 2021, 82% of people born in Texas remain in Texas. The researchers used data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
This far exceeds the next closest state in retaining native-born people. Other sticky states include:
- North Carolina (75.5%)
- Georgia (74.2%)
- California (73%)
- Utah (72.9%)
What makes people stay?
The researchers wrote that several factors play into why some states are more sticky than others.
These include more diverse job opportunities, above-average job growth, tax and housing costs, and the number of major cities in the state. Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston are the nation's fourth and fifth most populous metropolitan areas. Austin and San Antonio also rank up to 30th.
“Each of the five strongest states recorded above-average job growth between 2010 and 2019, meaning there was less pressure on residents to leave the country to find work. ” said the researchers. “States with multiple cities have a strong point of perseverance because they can offer a wider variety of job opportunities and relatively higher wages to their residents than smaller states with fewer urban areas or states with smaller populations. It is advantageous.”
Texas has recorded 29 consecutive months of job growth, adding 26,000 new non-farm jobs in July. In 2022, Texas added her 650,100 jobs. That's the most of any state and more than double her historical average. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the state's job growth rate was 5%, leading all states and easily outpacing the national growth rate of 3%.
Companies often cite the state's large workforce (currently about 14 million people) as a reason to relocate to Texas.
The researchers also found that four of the five most restrictive states had below-average state and local tax burdens. Texas is one of her nine states that has no state income tax.
“Residents born in low-tax states may be reluctant to move to high-tax states because the additional duties could reduce their take-home pay and lower their standard of living,” the researchers wrote. writing.
Where are people leaving?
Wyoming is the least sticky state, with only 45% of its native population remaining. North Dakota and Alaska are not far behind at 48.6% and 48.7%, respectively. Rhode Island and South Dakota round out the bottom five with stickiness scores of 55.2% and 54.2%.
The least sticky states also tend to have the most out-migration, tracking everyone who moves from one state to another. Texas had the lowest migration rate in 2021, followed by Maine and Michigan. Wyoming, Alaska, and Hawaii experienced the most out-migration.
Surprisingly, researchers found that the COVID-19 pandemic had little effect on whether people stayed or left their home states.
“No state saw its stickiness score change by more than 3 percentage points between 2017 and 2021,” they wrote. “Despite the increased movement of people during the pandemic, the state overall remained as stable as before (or not).”
