COLLEGE STATION – More than one of every ten
people moving to Texas during the 2020 pandemic year was from California, said
an economist with the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M
University.
“The movement of Californians to Texas is not new,” said Research Economist Dr.
Luis Torres. “In 19 of the last 20 years, California ranked as the top
move-to-Texas state. The only exception was Louisiana in 2005 as a result of
Hurricane Katrina. The share of Californians relocating to Texas has increased
every year since 2011.”
Florida was the second largest source of new Texans with a 7.2 percent share,
less than half the California influx. Rounding out the top five sources were
Colorado, Illinois, and Louisiana. International movers were not included in
this study.
At the county level, the majority of newcomers were from Los Angeles (CA)
County, or 3.1 percent of the total migration.
“This is not surprising since Los Angeles County is the most populated in
California,” said Torres. “Four other Southern Californian counties—San Diego,
Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino—made up the top ten counties with
residents moving to Texas.
“Contrary to popular belief, the majority of people moving from California are
coming from the southern part of the state and not from Silicon Valley, which
is farther north,” said Torres. Other U.S. counties in the top ten sources of
new Texans were Maricopa (AZ), Cook (IL), Clark (NV), El Paso (CO), and King
(WA).
To read the complete research article, go to “Where Did New Texans Come from During the Pandemic?”
The Texas Real Estate Research Center has a wealth of economic information online for free.