Prosperity Rising in Texas As California Home to Highest Poverty Rate in Country

HOUSTON, Texas — Fresh statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau show that prosperity is rising in Texas. 

The statistics show poverty across the U.S. In Texas, the poverty rate dropped 0.5 percent; it now stands at 15.9, right around the national average. As prosperity in the Lone Star State continues to increase, California remains home to the highest poverty rate in the country. 23.4 percent of Californians are currently in poverty. 

Vice President of Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Chuck DeVore, said in a statement, “The significance of the new Census data is illustrated in a comparison of Texas and California. One-in-five Americans make a home in the two biggest states and both states are very diverse with minority majority populations. Yet California has proportionately 47 percent more people in poverty than does Texas. This shows the effectiveness of the Texas model: job creation through lower taxes and a lighter regulatory burden.”

DeVore continued, “Not only does California have the highest true poverty rate in the nation, they also have about one-third of the nation’s welfare recipients with about one-eighth of its population. Further, as a share of income, California taxes are 52 percent higher than in Texas. Larger government programs are not going to reduce poverty — only a vibrant job market can do that over the long term.”

Indeed, California’s dull economy has caused thousands to pack up and move to Texas. 

Many native Texans worry that the influx of newcomers from California will turn the state blue — but DeVore is confident that the Lone Star State will remain deep red. 

“Most liberals from California would rather die than come here,” DeVore previously told Breitbart Texas. “Migration is largely of taxpaying entrepreneurs and hardworking people who want to escape.”

A joint study by the University of Texas and Texas Tribune backed up his theory. It confirmed that “California has been losing people in droves. The plurality of those migrants have moved to Texas, as many as 70,000 in 2011 and 60,000 in 2012.” After polling a significant portion of the fresh transplants, the study found that 57 percent of them are self-proclaimed conservatives and only 27 percent are liberal. 

As for that 27 percent, DeVore is confident that the Texas model of low taxes and reliable regulation will eventually win them over. 

“Texas is the embodiment of what America should be, as far as limited government and maximum freedom goes,” he said. 

Follow Kristin of Twitter @KristinBTate.