03/29/2024

Texas Laps California In Job And Population Growth

California, with 39.5 million people, is some 40 percent more populous than Texas, at 28.3 million. Yet, in spite of California’s large advantage in residents, the Golden State generated 356,800 new nonfarm jobs in the past 12 months through April, a rate of 2.1 percent, compared to 332,300 jobs in Texas, clocking in at 2.7 percent growth.

Texas’ strong job market sustains the state’s vibrant population growth as well. Since the 2010 census, Texas has added 12.6 percent more people, double California’s growth rate of 6.1 percent, America added 5.5 percent to its numbers from 2010 to 2017.

Every year, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates the number of people who move across state lines. In the five years from 2012 to 2016, a net of 521,052 Californians moved out. Their most popular destination was Texas, with a net of 114,413 Californians moving 1,300 miles east to Texas. California lost about 1.4 percent of its population to other states over five years.

Over the same five year period an estimated 542,432 more Americans moved to Texas than moved out, growing Texas’ population by 2.1 percent.

For more than a decade, California has consistently lost residents to other states, with the middle class and entrepreneurs alike driven out by the nation’s highest marginal income tax rate (13.3 percent), a heavy regulatory burden, and high housing costs inflated by restrictive zoning, environmental rules, and development fees that add about $200,000 to the price of a typical new home.

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