the cali to texas pipeline
Californians moving to Austin can save over $1.2 million, new study finds
Does it seem that Californians really are everywhere in Austin? Here's why: Money (of course).
A new report by online storage finding platform StorageCafe has revealed just how much money the average Californian saves by taking on the title of "transplant" and relocating to Texas. In some cases, it's a million-dollar move.
First, some stats: The new migration report by StorageCafe states about 111,000 people moved to Texas from the Golden State in 2021, while only 33,000 Texans made the opposite move to California that same year.
Reasons for the California-to-Texas exodus might seem obvious: the lack of income tax, a lower cost of living, and the rise of remote work flexibility. These factors proved to be vastly important for millennials, who made up a majority of the transplants (46 percent).
More people from one California county in particular – Los Angeles County – are choosing Austin over any other area in Texas.
Cheaper costs for homebuyers
Californians looking for a permanent Texas home can save hundreds of thousands of dollars by turning to Austin's booming housing market, where median home prices cost about $525,000.
The Californians that save the most money on a new house hail from Redwood City, where median prices cost under $1.8 million. They can save a tremendous $1,274,000 by purchasing an Austin home.
Those hailing from other parts of California do better in Texas, too. With homes in San Jose ringing up for nearly $1.5 million, for example, transplants can save $941,939 by buying a house in the capital city.
Apartment renters save more for similar amount of space
Renting an apartment in Austin is another financially advantageous move for California transplants, and will get them a slightly larger space than what they can find in their home state. Rent prices in major California cities like Redwood City and San Jose easily cost more than $3,000 a month, which is a far cry from Austin's median rent price of $1,794 per month.
Even for that amount of money, renters relocating to Austin from Santa Clara and Orange counties can easily find apartments that are over 300 square feet bigger.
StorageCafe's sister site Yardi Matrix's business intelligence manager, Doug Ressler, gave his thoughts in the report about the major factors that keep motivating Californians to make that move to Texas.
"Inflation continues to be a major concern, putting a financial strain on many people as they spend more of their income on typical expenses," he said. "As a result, moving to places that are easier on the wallet seems like the obvious solution, with many people crossing city and state lines to find a more suitable place to live."
The trend is not likely to slow down anytime soon, either.
"Over the first two decades of the 21st century, the movement of people leaving California for Texas has been well established," Ressler said. "No other state has sent more migrants to Texas than California during this time. The continual soaring housing prices and cost of living in California and much greater affordability in Texas is likely to sustain the significant flows of Californians toward Texas in the coming decades."
The study's findings were determined using census data between 2017 and 2021 from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) Survey Documentation and Analysis (SDA) tool. Home pricing information was found using data from real estate platform Point2.
The full study can be found on storagecafe.com.
Austin Farm Sanctuary co-owner Chris Fuller-Wigg with one of the farms' many rescued cows. Photo from austinfarmsanctuary.org.
The crew from Keep Austin Beautiful Day 2019. Photo from keepaustinbeautiful.org