Former California Residents Are Top Texas Newcomers

In the last 19 of 20 years – excepting the Louisiana to Texas migration following Hurricane Katrina – Californians made up the biggest population moving to Texas, according to the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University’s, Where Did New Texas Come From During the Pandemic? The share of Californians moving to Texas has increased every year since Katrina, and in 2020, about 15 percent of newcomers were from California. This is more than double the next biggest region for migration: Florida, which made up 7.2 percent. Colorado, Illinois, and Louisiana rounded out the top five for Texas migration.

Of those who moved to Texas, the largest percentage (3.1 percent) were from Los Angeles County in California. The rest of the top 10 counties nationwide, all below two percent of the total, were Maricopa County, Arizona; San Diego County, California; Cook County, Illinois; Orange County, California; Riverside County, California; Clark County, Nevada; El Paso County, Colorado; San Bernardino County, California; and King County, Washington.

Most newcomers to Texas (60.7 percent) moved to urban centers, with 10.4 percent relocating to Harris County, 7.6 percent relocating to Tarrant County, 7.2 percent relocating to Bexar County, 6.9 percent relocating to Travis County, 6.8 percent relocating to Dallas County, and 6.5 percent relocating to Collin County. Ten-and-a-half percent of Californians moving to Texas relocated to Travis County.

Despite the influx to Texas, most moves in 2020 were within Texas. For example, 19.4 percent of all moves to Williamson County were from Travis County. Williamson and Travis Counties made up 64 percent of all moves within Texas.

Read more at Where Did New Texas Come From During the Pandemic?