Companies, Jobs and Workers are moving south. Is Texas the New Golden state?
Across the U.S., companies and workers have kept shifting toward lower-cost Sun Belt states since the pandemic, according to Census Bureau migration estimates and Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data. Texas is now at the center of that movement, with new corporate campuses, factory expansions, and population gains spread across metro areas like Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. The question is not whether Texas is growing, but whether the scale of that growth now makes it the country’s closest match to the economic pull California once held.
Big moves are still landing in Texas
Tesla moved its corporate headquarters from Palo Alto to Austin in 2021, and Chevron announced in August 2024 that it would relocate its headquarters from San Ramon, California, to Houston. Elon Musk said in 2021 that Tesla’s move reflected both housing costs and room for expansion near its Travis County factory. Chevron said in an August 2024 statement that Houston had already become a major center for its leadership and operations.
Texas also continues to lead the nation in business attraction rankings tied to projects and expansions. Site Selection magazine said in March 2025 that Texas recorded 1,368 corporate facility projects in 2024, the most of any state for the 13th year in a row. Gov. Greg Abbott’s office cited that count as evidence of continued employer demand across manufacturing, logistics, and energy.
The state’s labor market has moved in the same direction. The Texas Workforce Commission said Texas added 270,700 nonfarm jobs from January 2024 to January 2025, while the state reached a record labor force of more than 15.7 million people. Those totals do not prove every newcomer came from another state, but they do confirm that hiring and labor supply kept expanding at a national scale.
What the shift looks like on the ground in Texas
The gains are not limited to one city. The U.S. Census Bureau said Texas added more residents than any other state between July 2023 and July 2024, with the state’s population rising by more than 562,000 people to about 31.3 million. Much of that growth concentrated in large job centers, especially North Texas, Central Texas, and the Houston area.
Dallas-Fort Worth has been one of the clearest examples. Census estimates released in 2024 showed the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro added roughly 177,900 residents in a single year, making it the nation’s fastest-growing metro by numeric gain. Austin and Houston also remained major magnets for office employers, industrial builders, and out-of-state households, according to regional chamber and brokerage reports published in 2024.
What is less clear is how evenly the benefits are spreading. State data confirms job creation and population growth, but no single public report shows a full count of how many relocating workers came specifically from California, New York, or Illinois in 2024 alone. Housing costs have also risen sharply in parts of Texas, with Zillow market data showing Austin, Dallas, and Houston home values and rents all far above pre-2020 levels even after some recent cooling.
Why Texas keeps winning relocations
Cost remains one of the biggest reasons companies cite. Chief executives and site selection consultants have repeatedly pointed to Texas’ lack of a state personal income tax, lower office costs than coastal markets, and faster permitting in some suburban jurisdictions. In its 2024 relocation announcement, Chevron said Houston offered proximity to executives, employees, and business operations already based there.
Industry mix matters too. Texas is strong in sectors that expanded after 2020, including energy, semiconductors, logistics, data centers, and advanced manufacturing. Samsung has continued work on its Taylor semiconductor project east of Austin, a multibillion-dollar investment first announced in 2021, while state and local officials have kept marketing Texas as a place with available land, power infrastructure, and highway access.
For residents, the practical effect is straightforward. More job postings, more construction, and more traffic are already visible in major metros, while rising demand has also kept pressure on roads, utilities, and housing supply. Texas is not replacing California in every industry, but current data from the Census Bureau, Texas Workforce Commission, and major corporate filings show it remains one of the country’s biggest magnets for companies, jobs, and workers.
