Texas is the second-most popular state to move to in the country.Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson crowed about its appeal at Davos this week. He cited relatively affordable homes and a free, clean, high-quality life as two of Texas’ draws.
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People shouldn’t mess with Texas.Just look at its dominance: Texas is the second-most-popular state to move to, trailing only Florida.Over the past few years, hundreds of thousands of transplants have relocated to Texas — drawn in part by its reputation for a cheaper cost of living and abundant job opportunities, which have helped propel its economy to among the strongest in the world.Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson told Business Insider at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that two things consistently attract Americans to move to the state.For one, he said, newcomers are lured by the relatively cheaper cost of homes and other essentials. In addition, transplants from California in particular are largely in pursuit of a better quality of life.”People are moving to Texas from California because of our politics and culture,” said Johnson, who is in his sixth year as mayor and recently switched political parties from Democratic to Republican. “They’re not trying to turn Texas into where they came from.”Who’s moving to Texas, by the numbersMore than 668,300 people moved into Texas between 2021 and 2022, per the Census Bureau’s tabulation of American Community Survey, or ACS, data.More than 102,400 of these movers came from California, followed by 41,700 from Florida and 30,900 from New York.Texas, in particular, is attracting young people. A Business Insider analysis of individual-level data from the 2022 ACS, assembled by the University of Minnesota’s IPUMS program, found that most people moving to Texas are millennials (40.5%) and Gen Zers (29.9%.)One of Texas’ lures is relatively affordable homesTexas homes remain comparatively affordable — an advantage at a time when US housing prices hover near all-time highs.”The housing market in Dallas is very affordable to Californians and New Yorkers,” Johnson said.Take Pengyu Cheng, a tech-company program manager who left San Francisco for the suburbs of Austin in 2021 after growing tired of the Bay Area’s high home prices and competitive atmosphere.In San Francisco, Cheng and his wife rented a two-bedroom apartment for $3,100 a month. In Texas, the couple purchased a two-story home for $825,000, which they said was a fraction of what it would have cost in California.”Every time we looked at Redfin or read an article about median housing prices, it was the same story: The real estate market was just getting more expensive,” Cheng, 40, previously told Business Insider. “We went from being squeezed inside a small apartment to enjoying a more than 3,300-square-foot home with an office and play area for our son.”Business Insider’s analysis of Census data reveals that about 70% of people moving to Texas are renters, while 30% are homeowners. Previous Business Insider reporting suggests that for many of these movers, housing affordability is top of mind. As of 2022, the average home price in the state for those moving in was $451,568, lower than the national average of $493,000, according to Census data.Newcomers flocking to the state, however, have led to higher home prices and property taxes — especially in large metropolitan areas like Dallas and Austin. This has made housing less affordable for many locals, causing some residents to, in turn, relocate to more affordable states themselves.Johnson reminded BI that all housing costs are relative: “When you’re talking about ‘it’s expensive to live in Dallas,’ you’re comparing Dallas to the Dallas of yesteryear.”Johnson said constructing more homes — especially in Dallas — will be crucial to keeping homes relatively cheap. He hopes to make it easier for homebuilders to receive permits for construction.”You have to encourage the private sector to build more houses,” he said. “Because right now in Dallas, it’s not easy. It should be easier. Make zoning less convoluted — zone more places for residential construction and make it easier to build.” Some movers to Texas are motivated by political expression and safety concernsSome movers to Texas have told BI they didn’t always agree with the politics of the states they left behind and wanted to join communities with similar perspectives and a better cultural fit.Many transplants feel they have greater freedom to express political views, Johnson said, adding that many residents also say they feel safer in cities such as Dallas.He said Dallas residents have benefited from investments in the police department as well as infrastructure including new sidewalks and smooth streets.”The difference between Dallas and a lot of our major city competitors is we want to let the businesses and the residents be the star of the show, not the government,” Johnson said.He added that newcomers are embracing Texas for all that it offers.”The Californians are the most outspoken and the most adamant about how much they love their new home, and how much they really don’t miss at all what they left,” he said.
