Austin, TX

Texas Population Set To Soar as Residents Flock to the Lone Star State From These Surprising Places

Published

2 years ago

August 18, 2024

Texas Population Set To Soar as Residents Flock to the Lone Star State From These Surprising Places

Texas continues to draw large numbers of new residents, and they aren’t coming just from California.

Newly released one-way trip data from U-Haul shows that, in the first half of 2024, the largest Texas cities drew new residents from throughout the region.

In Houston, for example, Louisiana was the top origin state for U-Haul movers, with New Orleans also ranking as the No. 1 out-of-state origin metro for the period.

In the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, Oklahoma, Florida, and Louisiana were the top three origin states for movers. Oklahoma City was the top out-of-state origin metro, followed by Denver.

In both San Antonio and Austin, the most common origin state was California, a testament that the “Texafornia” trend continues, with thousands of Californians relocating to the Lone Star State.

But in San Antonio, Phoenix was the top out-of-state origin metro. Los Angeles took the top spot in Austin, which remains a popular moving destination for Californians.

There are limitations to the U-Haul list, which shows only rankings, not raw numbers of movers. As well, the rankings don’t include all movers—just those who rented a U-Haul. Still, the list shows how Texas continues to draw new residents from a variety of cities.

Movers are fueling Texas population growth

Texas, which is the second-largest U.S. state with a population of about 30 million, has been growing rapidly for decades.

From 2000 to 2020, the state’s population increased by 40%, or about 8.3 million, the largest absolute population increase of any state over that period, according to census data. Only Nevada, Utah, and Idaho grew faster on a percentage basis during the same period.

Over those two decades, about half of Texas’ population gain resulted from natural increase, or births outpacing deaths. Roughly a third came from net domestic migration, or more people moving in from another state than out. The remainder was from net international migration.

Starting in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have turbocharged domestic migration to Texas, which has outpaced natural increase as the state’s top driver of population growth, according to the Texas Demographic Center.

Census data shows that from July 2020 to July 2023, nine of the 10 fastest-growing cities in the country were in Texas. The Texas cities in the top 10 were all suburban communities on the outskirts of major metro areas, their growth fueled by outward sprawl.

Typical was Celina, on the far northern edge of the Dallas metro area. From 2020 to 2023, Celina’s population increased by 143%, to 43,317, up from 17,808 three years prior.

Why are people moving to Texas?

Economic growth, lower tax burdens, and a lower cost of living in Texas are typically cited as the main factors driving the state’s population growth.

Relative home prices often provide some clues about why people are moving, and from where.

In San Antonio, for instance, the median July list price of $350,000, or $185 per square foot, is far below the $528,000, or $275 per square foot, seen in Phoenix, the top out-of-state origin city for San Antonio in the first half of this year.

Meanwhile, Houston’s median list price of $375,000 is somewhat higher than the $329,000 seen in top origin city New Orleans.

But Houston’s price per square foot of $177 comes in below the $179 in New Orleans, suggesting that a mover could sell in the Big Easy and get more house for their buck in Houston.

That trend doesn’t always hold—Oklahoma City, the top U-Haul origin city for Dallas-Fort Worth, has significantly lower home prices than its Texas counterpart.

However, it does help explain the enduring popularity of Austin, the most expensive major city in Texas, as a destination for people fleeing California.

Austin’s median July list price of $540,000 is eye-watering compared with prices in the other major metros of Texas.

But for someone moving from Los Angeles, Austin home prices would seem a bargain compared with that city’s $1.2 million median list price.

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Related Topics:austin tx Dallas TX data journalism Featured Fort Worth TX houston tx migration moving San Antonio TX

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Austin, TX

Texas Primary: Breakdown of Texas races

Published

12 hours ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Democrats tried to stop a mid-decade redistricting effort, but were unsuccessful. Now, we are starting to see some of the candidates emerging in those newly drawn districts. FOX 7 Austin’s Rudy Koski gives a full breakdown.

Posted March 3, 2026 10:32pm CST

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Austin, TX

Remembering Jorge Pederson: Minnesota MMA fighter killed in Austin, Texas, shooting

Published

1 day ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

Remembering Jorge Pederson: Minnesota MMA fighter killed in Austin, Texas, shooting

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – A shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, Texas, early Sunday morning, killed three people and injured more than a dozen others, according to the Austin Police Department. APD confirmed one of the victims was 30-year-old Jorge Pederson, a Minnesota man who worked as an MMA fighter for the Med City Fighting Championships.

“You meet tons of fighters and there are people that stand above the rest that you find you enjoy or find the most amusing,” MCFC Co-Owner Matthew Vogt said. “He was definitely one of them.”

According to Vogt, Pederson was also the owner of a Minnesota business called Metro Movers. Vogt said the MMA competitor touched everyone’s hearts since his first day of fighting professionally in Rochester.

“As soon as we met him when it was the weighing time, we just loved the guy already because he had a great mission or spirit about him,” Vogt said. “He was a funny guy and great fighter.”

Vogt told KTTC when he first saw the news that Pederson was killed, he could not believe what he saw.

“I was looking, like, ‘Wait a minute. Is this one of his shenanigans or did something actually happen there?’” Vogt said, recalling the moment he saw a social media post regarding the shooting in Austin. “I confirmed with a few people and I’m just like, sometimes, some things happen that you don’t even like, you don’t even know how to respond to it because it’s just so out of left field that you don’t immediately have a response to it.”

MCFC confirmed there is an online fundraiser dedicated to supporting Pederson’s family. As of Tuesday afternoon, more than $10,000 has been raised.

“He was someone that always could make anybody laugh,” Vogt said. “Support his family through the fundraiser and take a look at his Instagram especially to see how funny he was.”

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Austin, TX

Here are the major statewide and Austin-area races on the ballot Tuesday

Published

2 days ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

Here are the major statewide and Austin-area races on the ballot Tuesday

A voter heads into the Ben Hur Shrine polling place in Austin as early voting begins for the March primary elections in Texas, Feb. 17, 2026. Voters can cast their ballots to decide who represents Republicans and Democrats in the November midterm elections.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman

A rare mix of competitive races up and down the ballot has voters turning up to the polls in droves ahead of Tuesday’s primary election, which will set match-ups in the high-stakes midterms in November.

Voters will decide if U.S. Sen. John Cornyn gets to keep the seat he’s held for more than two decades and which candidates will likely take a slew of redrawn congressional seats meant to give Republicans an edge. The races could decide control of Congress.