2020: Where New Texans Came From
COLLEGE STATION, Tex. (Texas Real Estate Research Center) – 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 research article, go to “Where Did New Texans Come from During the Pandemic?"
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