ROBERT ALLEN Show President and CEO of the Texas Economic Development Corporation (TxEDC). TxEDC’s mission is to promote Texas as the premier state to locate or expand the business and to offer insight and key resources to advisers and decision-makers. Follow Robert and TxEDC on Twitter at @GoBiginTexas.  July 5, 2022 Population growth in Texas’s big metro areas grabs so much of the attention when we think about population growth across the state. And in the recent past, growth in metro suburbs has generated a lot of buzz. But as a Texas native, I’d be doing a disservice if I overlooked growth in many of the state’s communities with smaller populations. “If you think about it, small towns have formed the identity of our great state,” says Chuck Harris, executive director of the Texas Exes, the alumni association at my alma mater, The University of Texas at Austin. These days, these booming communities of Texans might be the state’s best-kept secret. And it might surprise you how much these communities have grown in the past 10 years and how much they’re contributing to the Texas economy. MoveBuddha, a platform for consumers wanting to hire movers, recently did a deep dive into population trends in Texas. Among the many facets of our population, moveBuddha examined the 10-year growth rate of towns that had fewer than 10,000 residents in 2010. Not surprisingly, all of the small Texas towns experiencing the most explosive growth from 2010 to 2020 are in the Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston metro areas:
Impressive numbers, right? So, why are the populations of these cities popping so much? As moveBuddha points out, people are settling in smaller communities situated in Texas’s large metro areas to take advantage of an attractive cost of living while still enjoying access to big-city amenities. This helps our economy by giving new arrivals and longtime residents a robust quality of life and proximity to metro-area jobs. Some of these fast-growing communities are helping drive the state’s economy in other ways, though:
As some folks bemoan what they perceive to be the fading of small-town Texas, it’s worth celebrating the small towns that are on the rise. And they’re not just on the outskirts of major metros. Some small towns in less-populated metro or micropolitan areas around the state and in rural swaths of Texas are enjoying economic progress. Case in point: The Walton Family Foundation in 2019 ranked three Texas micropolitan areas among the country’s 20 most dynamic micropolitan areas: Pecos topped the list, with Fredericksburg at No. 10 and Uvalde at No. 11. Pecos (about 75 miles southwest of Odessa) and Uvalde (almost 85 miles southwest of San Antonio) have benefited from oil-and-gas exploration, while Fredericksburg (roughly 80 miles west of Austin) draws thousands of Hill Country tourists each year. “As American as baseball, hot dogs and apple pie, Main Street America — and its small towns — is a central component to understanding the economic forces at work across the United States,” the Walton Family Foundation observed. And if data from moveBuddha and other sources is any indication, a number of Texas’s small towns are an economic force to be reckoned with. April 26, 2021Updated: April 27, 2021 4:46 p.m. Austin, Texas, seen in 2018. Texas' population growth of 15.9% was more than twice California's 6.1% in the last decade, according to Census data. California’s
loss of a House seat for the first time ever and Texas’ two-seat gain is adding to concerns that the Golden State is losing its edge — along with tens of thousands of people per year — to its political and economic archrival. From 2010 to 2020, California’s population grew 6.1%, the smallest percentage increase since at least 1910 and below the national gain
of 7.4%, according to preliminary U.S. Census data released Monday. Texas’ growth rate of 15.9% was more than double both the national and California rates. Texas was the most popular destination for ex-Californians between 2010 and 2019. During that time, nearly 700,000 Californians moved to Texas,
according to census data. Fewer than 400,000 Texans moved to California during that time. In 2019 alone, an estimated 82,000 Californians fled to Texas. Silicon Valley giants like Oracle and Hewlett Packard Enterprise are also moving their headquarters to Texas. Apple and Tesla are each building $1 billion projects in Austin, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the
world’s richest man, is a new Texan. Two economic experts in San Francisco and Austin agreed that Californians leaving for Texas and other states isn’t a full-blown exodus. But the shift in population trends is a warning sign for California. A boom in the tech industry attracted new residents from around the world, but the state is grappling with the highest housing costs in the country and a post-pandemic expansion in remote work could exacerbate the departures. Around 1.5% to 1.8%
of California’s population moved to other states each year during the last decade. “Is that an exodus? No. I’d describe it like a slow loss of air out of a tire,” said Chuck DeVore, vice president of national initiatives at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank in Austin. “Exodus makes for a nice, snazzy headline. But it’s more accurate to say California is becoming a less attractive place to live. As a result it doesn’t attract a large number of people that it did in the past, both domestic and foreign,” said DeVore, a former Republican California state Assembly member who moved to Texas in 2011. “Over a 10-year period, it adds up to an entire congressional seat.” Jeff Bellisario, executive director of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, a business-backed think tank in San Francisco, said slowing population growth is a “signal to policymakers that we’re not headed in the right direction.” “Sitting back and doing nothing is not the solution, whether it’s on housing, or the economy or equity,” he said. “This is the early part of a very alarming trend.” The pandemic is expected to depress California’s growth even more. California’s births fell 15% in January and February compared with the prior year, the biggest drop since at least 1960. State data released in December showed annual population growth of 0.05% through July 1, 2020, the slowest growth rate since 1900. United States Postal Service data obtained by the Bay Area Council shows that net migration from California to other states rose by nearly 90,000 people last year during the pandemic compared with 2019. Texas retained its status as the top destination, with 70,000 Californians requesting change of addresses to the state. (Actual migration was higher because not everyone files for a change of address.) DeVore said Texas’ lack of income taxes and light regulations, plus home prices that are about a third of California’s, have made it an engine of growth. He believes California officials like Gov. Gavin Newsom could make housing easier to build, cut taxes and regulations, increase the threshold for lawsuits and make the state more desirable for residents and businesses. But he doesn’t expect that to happen. “I know who’s running the show. I don’t think they will change,” he said. “They’re afraid they’re going to lose office. I think they’re going to be displaced by someone to their left.” DeVore believes a more effective political strategy for California would be to pressure the Biden administration to increase federal energy and labor regulations and raise taxes for the entire country. “Go all in on encouraging the administration to make America more like California,” DeVore said. “Then what’s the point of moving?” “You can essentially make California look better by making Texas look worse through federal action,” he said. Energy regulations and fees, for instance, could disproportionately hit states like Texas that are manufacturing hubs and rely on coal and natural gas, DeVore said. Bellisario wants to see California make housing easier to build, a policy effort that has been met with resistance. Raising state taxes could also push more people out and the state is already enjoying a large surplus, which wasn’t the case in past recessions, he said. “We’re very concerned about future tax increases, especially on businesses given where we are in our economic recovery,” he said. California and the Bay Area still have many advantages, he said. Venture capital and the tech industry is booming, and people are still moving to the state. “It doesn’t mean the California dream is dead by any means,” Bellisario said. “We were never going to stay leaps and bounds ahead of all metro areas. There’s now a sense that other regions have caught up.” Roland Li and Nami Sumida are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: , Twitter: @rolandlisf, @namisumida Is the population of Texas increasing?➢ Texas' growth rate of 15.9% more than doubled the growth rate of the nation (7.4%);
Is Texas a fast growing state?Royal Texas Memorial Stadiums, once again making the Lone Star State the fastest-growing in the nation, U.S. Census data shows. Despite overall population growth in the United States being the lowest its ever been, both Texas and Florida saw significant increases.
Where is Texas experiencing the fastest population growth?When looking at the actual number of residents, San Antonio is the fastest-growing city, adding more than 13,600 residents between 2020 and 2021. On the opposite end, Dallas and Houston saw the biggest declines in population of any city in the state, both losing more than 10,000 residents.
Why are there so many people in Texas?Many job opportunities, cheaper homes, lower cost of living, great weather and food, many outdoor activities, good schools, friendly people… there are many reasons why so many people and even businesses are moving to Texas.
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