Texas has become the new stomping grounds for Californians一or at least that’s what it seems.  According to a study conducted by Storage Cafe, Harris County is the number one spot people on the west coast want to call home.

What brings the easy-going natives to Clutch City?

Within the last decade 690,000 Californians have relocated to Texas, according to the U.S. Census Data analysis. Houston in particular, is the landing point for those coming from Los Angeles一3,263 of our 8,408 new residents are from Los Angeles County. The city's housing market is seemingly the culprit, as the study finds Houston homes are 57 percent cheaper than LA County’s. As the saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas. 

“I think there’s no question that the main driver is housing prices in California,” said William Fulton, Director at the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University. “When housing prices in California go up, so does migration to Texas.”

Houston is also home to big tech companies一Hewlett Packard is currently building a “state-of-the-art campus” to serve as its new headquarters. It’s one of many giant tech hubs that have recently made the move from Silicon Valley to Texas. “Many organizations are considering moving either their headquarters or divisions to Texas to take advantage of lower taxes, a higher quality of living, and lower housing prices for their workforce,” said Job Hammond, Adjunct Professor of Real Estate & Finance at Austin Community College.

Space City’s low unemployment rate coupled with its higher average annual salary, makes it a hot-spot for other parts of California, too, especially Riverside and San Diego. Having an opportunity at an increased paycheck all while paying less for living, allows these new residents to have wiggle room in their savings, according to Storage Cafe. 

Harris County isn’t the only constituency attracting Californians either. In an effort to escape high costs of living, Californians are sprawled across the Lone Star State, including counties in Dallas, Travis, Tarrant, Bexar, Collin, Denton, Williamson, El Paso, and Bell. 

Just another reason Texas is the best state in the nation. 

To read more about Texas’ attractiveness to Californians, read the Storage Cafe article here.