In Texas, people now expect to frequently meet newcomers from California. Seeing California license plates on the road has become as common as Lone Star State flags and Dallas Cowboys stickers in the back windshield.

Well, maybe not that common. Still, the migration of people from California to Texas is notable. Texas is “having a  moment,” wrote researchers at Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research. To back that up, they reported that the net flow of people from California to Texas was 95,000 in 2018 and 2019.

Also, companies such as Oracle, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, CBRE, and Charles Schwab have recently moved from California to Texas.

It’s officially a trend. And for those moving from Los Angeles to Dallas – or from Dallas to Los Angeles – hiring car transport services makes the move more convenient and efficient.

Why Use Car Transport Between California and Texas?

People have many theories about why so many move from California to Texas, including political, environmental, and cultural reasons. However, reporting from news media and research by government and academic outlets finds that most reasons fall within the following three areas.

High Cost of Living

California living has become expensive in many areas, most notable the price of real estate. The Kinder Institute found that the number of Californians moving to Texas increased about two years after home prices make a jump. And they’ve jumped a lot since 2011, with the median price of a single-family home rising from $300,000 to almost $600,000 by 2019.

Texas has a relatively lower cost of living, with the median price of a single-family home at $247,210, according to numbers compiled by the financial website, Motley Fool. They estimate the price in California has now reached $683,000.

Another issue is high taxes. The state income tax rate in California is 8 percent for those making between $48,436 and $61,214. For those making between $61,215 up to more than $300,000, the rate rises to 9.3 percent. Texas, on the other hand, has zero state income tax. Easy math, there.

Changing Jobs

The influx of jobs into Texas goes beyond the company relocations (which also includes Toyota moving its North American headquarters to Dallas). The state added 649,200 jobs in 2021, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. In addition to companies relocating to the Lone Star State and bringing their workers, the state also has been a magnet for entrepreneurs and other skilled professionals looking to make their dollar stretch farther.

Moving Back to California

What often goes unreported is that plenty of people continue to move from Texas to California every year, as well. The Kinder Institute reports that the migration of people from Texas to California has remained steady every year. That number usually hovers around 35,000 to 40,000 every year. Among them are people who moved to Texas and now are returning back to
California.

Once you look beyond the surface numbers, it’s easy to see that people are making the move between the two states in both directions. Whatever direction you are heading, hiring a car transport service can make the move much more convenient and save you the hassle of driving your car halfway across the country.