In 2021, Texas ranked #1 in one-way U-Haul rentals entering the state. Representatives at U-Haul report that pandemic conditions forced many to make adjustments in their lives. More than half of their national traffic involved a move to or within Texas last year. Texas U-Haul Vice President Matt Merrill said, “The way Texas deals with the pandemic is using common sense. Everybody takes care of themselves and takes care of their neighbor and we can’t be shut down. We deal with it head-on. We continue to be open.” Traffic into Texas grew nearly 20 percent from 2020 to 2021, largely due to moves from the west coast, mid-Atlantic, and New England states.
Still, for nearly 200 years before COVID, Texas was attracting other Americans and today, migration from other states accounts for nearly one-third of the state’s population growth from year to year. According to experts from U-Haul to Forbes, data show Texas is home to four of the top 50 most active metropolitan areas in all sectors of real estate combined over the past decade.
REAL ESTATE TRENDS
Over the past decade, Dallas has shown the most office and industrial growth while Houston stands out as the most active single family market and the Austin-Williamson County metro area ranks 11th with the greatest population growth by percentage. This is no surprise to those who have been following Georgetown’s top three ranking for growth cities in the nation for several years running, although a significant portion of that growth is due to in-state migration.
Newcomers to Texas seem to land in the Houston area, particularly Californians seeking relief in the state’s lower home prices and tax rates, cheaper land, and solid economy but still preferring a city lifestyle. Combining all these trends, the U.S. Census Bureau data show, overall, more than 687,000 Californians have moved to Texas over the last decade. Given the cost, it is hard to blame them; a typical home in Harris County, for example, is 57 percent cheaper than in Los Angeles County, whereas the average annual pay is about the same.
“There are lots of places in America with jobs and lower climate risks, or jobs and racial diversity, but if you want all three, Texas will take care of you best.”
~NY Times
If Texas were a nation— again… we would have
Won more Olympic medals in 2020 than 89 other countries • the 7th largest number of billionaires
in the world • the 50th largest population in the world • more tax revenue, because we give the Federal Government more than they give back • the 9th largest GPD in the world (2021); about the same as Canada • one-third of the world’s largest recoverable oil reserve • the ability to defend ourselves via 25 military bases, including ownership of the only nuclear weapons assembly plant in the current United States • continued ability to power our nation with our own power grid • Elon Musk as a sovereign citizen.