Texas is one of the few states that has seen its population grow steadily in the last couple of years. It grew from about 20 million in 2000 to about 29 million in 2019. This is a bigger population increase than both that of Florida’s and California’s. While some people point to the family-friendliness of cities like San Antonio as a factor for this increase, there is another big factor that is playing a key role. Business.
Many businesses are moving into Texas, which may not come as a surprise to some people. Oracle, Hewlett Packard, and Tesla are among the many companies that are planning to move their HQs into the state. Though the number of companies coming into the state have been on a rise through the years, the COVID pandemic triggered a massive amount of move-ins. Take Tesla for example. After the pandemic struck, California put shutdowns into place to control the spread of the virus. One of these shutdowns impacted one of Tesla’s factories by not letting them reopen. This angered Elon Musk, who announced that he would move the company’s HQ out of California and into Texas. Similar incidents like this also led other businesses to move out of “The Golden State”. Another thing is that individuals in Texas don’t have a state income tax, unlike California which has one of the biggest income tax rates in the country. All of these factors are leading to what many call an “exodus” of companies leaving for Texas.
With many businesses moving into Texas, that brings many jobs into the state, which in turn brings many people who are looking for work into the state. With all this, a boost in the state’s economy and population seems most definite. Although, as of right now, California still holds the top spot with companies like Google and Apple based in the state. Though Texas is growing economically, it will take some time for it to take the #1 spot from California. But maybe, someday, if this growth sustains, Texas has a really good chance at becoming the next Silicon Valley, or even bigger. Who knows what the future has to hold? We’ll just have to wait and see.
