Californians Comprise Largest Number of New Texas Transplants

A new report by the Texas Association of Realtors reveals that Californians continue to move to the Lone Star State en masse, accounting for the largest number of new residents that hail from other states.

The 2017 Texas Relocation Report shows, in 2015, Texas added 553,032 new people. The most transplants came from California (65,546), followed by Florida (33,670), Louisiana (31,044), New York (26,287), and Oklahoma (25,555).

“The diverse job opportunities and high quality of life in Texas continue to drive in-state and out-of-state migration to Texas cities and counties, both big and small,” said Vicki Fullerton, 2017 chairman of the Texas Association of Realtors, in a press release. “This is the third consecutive year that Texas has gained more than 500,000 new residents from out of state.”

In the report, Texas ranked second among states to add new residents via domestic migration in 2015 after factoring in outflow. Although over a half million people relocated to Texas, 445,343 left. This means the out-of-state net gain of residents was 107,689. In 2014, it was 103,465. Both years, more people entered than exited and the Texas realtors said the state bested its 2014 net gain by 4 percent.

By comparison, California lost more residents than it gained — 643,710 packed up and went elsewhere, while 514,477 moved to the Golden State.

The most people, 584,938, flocked to Florida, but the Sunshine State was offset by an outflow of 445,320. New York lost 448,855 residents; Illinois, 337,592 although gains were not listed. Texas lost its largest number of residents (41,713) to California, followed by Florida (29,706), Oklahoma (28,642), Colorado (25,268), and Louisiana (19,863).

The report also compared metropolitan statistical area (MSA) relocations. In 2015, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim and New York-Newark-Jersey City recorded their highest number of residents went to Texas.

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (DFW) received 117,982 new residents from other states but 92,985 others left the state from the area, reflecting a 24,997 net gain. Similarly, while 101,604 people moved to Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, 72,265 vacated to other states. After adjusting for losses, Houston netted a 29,399 gain, higher than DFW. Austin-Round Rock’s net gain was 16,890; San Antonio-New Braunfels’ was 8,029.

Austin got its greatest bump when Texans relocated from Houston and Dallas. Most out-of-staters in Dallas came from Los Angeles and New York City but Dallasites who left Texas largely relocated to Oklahoma City and Denver. People left Austin for L.A. and New York.

Harris County led the state’s counties in adding a net gain of 18,945 new residents. Four of the top 10 counties with the highest transplant net gain were in North Texas (Dallas, Tarrant, Collin and Denton counties).

Analysts based relocation report data on the U.S Census Bureau, U-Haul’s 2015 National Migration Trend Reports, the 2015 American Community Survey, and the 2010-14 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. The findings mirrored much of Breitbart Texas’ coverage on explosive population growth in Texas through interstate migration.

New census figures released in late December showed Texas added more new residents than any other state between July 2015 to July 2016 bringing the state’s population to almost 28 million. Last year, an American City Business Journal study ranked five Texas metros (Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, and McAllen) among the Top 10 fastest growing U.S. cities.

A key contributor to Californians flocking to Texas has been the corporate exodus of companies fleeing the Golden State’s hostile business environment, heavy regulations, and heavy taxation. Between 2008 and 2014, California corporations accounted for 219 or 15 percent of companies that moved their headquarters or expanded operations into business-friendly Texas. The state also incentivizes out-of-state companies to expand into the state with the goal of creating more jobs and economic growth within Texas through the Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF). Since 2008, Texas is the top state where California businesses relocate. In 2015, Texas placed second on the Fortune 500 list, with 54 firms, edging out California, which had 53.

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