welcome to texas

Austin ranked among top 5 destinations for movers in 2023, per report

Austin is still reeling 'em in.

By at least one measure, Texas was the hottest destination in America for movers last year — and more of them steered toward Austin than any other city in the state.

U-Haul's new "Top Growth States Report" report, published January 2, ranks Texas the state with the most inbound moves via U-Haul trucks in 2023. It's the third year in the row that Texas has held that distinction.

U-Haul further drills down in its "Top U.S. Growth Cities" report to reveal Austin is the No. 5 U.S. destination for movers who used U-Hauls, overall, and the top-ranked locale in Texas. Austin did not appear in the company's 2022 report.

The statewide and city-specific studies calculated the growth rates based on each locale's net gain or net loss of one-way equipment from customer transactions throughout the entire calendar year. The report reminds readers that although U-Haul's numbers don't directly correlate to population or economic growth, it is an interesting look at the performance of the top American cities and states that are attracting newcomers.

The company says the number of do-it-yourself movers who arrived in the Lone Star State fell nearly 11 percent from the previous year, but those same movers still made up 50.4 percent of all one-way U-Haul traffic in and out of Texas in 2023.

Cory Hall, the U-Haul Area District Vice President for Southern Texas, says in a press release that major tech companies like Oracle, Tesla, Google, and Apple are drawing tens of thousands of employees to Texas from other states like California and New York.

"Texas is growing at a massive rate right now, which doesn’t really seem to surprise anybody based on the companies that are investing here," Hall says. “The lower cost of living and taxes for those companies … it’s a huge investment for them."

Hall also notes that the employees who do pack up and move to Texas experience a "substantial pay increase" due to the lack of income tax, and lower property taxes in comparison to bigger cities like San Francisco. (This is, of course, a complicated comparison since the median household income in San Francisco was $136,689 in 2022, compared to Austin's $86,556.)

Right behind Austin as the No. 6 top U.S. destination for newcomers is College Station-Bryan (No. 6), a popular choice thanks to Texas A&M University. Dallas also earned a spot in the top 10, ranking No. 9. Conroe, a city outside Houston, ranked outside the top 10 in No. 16, after previously ranking No. 19 in 2022.

U-Haul's top 10 growth cities in 2023 are:

No. 1 – Palm Bay-Melbourne, Florida
No. 2 – Ocala, Florida
No. 3 – Charleston-North Charleston, South Carolina
No. 4 – Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida
No. 5 – Austin, Texas
No. 6 – College Station-Bryan, Texas
No. 7 – Charlotte, North Carolina
No. 8 – Huntsville, Alabama
No. 9 – Dallas, Texas
No. 10 – Myrtle Beach-North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Both reports can be found on uhaul.com.

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Shelter to Service

Dripping Springs nonprofit trains service dogs rescued from shelters

Photo courtesy of KVUE

The group estimates that it's gotten more than 1,000 dogs out of the shelter system.

For the past 35 years, a service dog training nonprofit in Dripping Springs has transformed unwanted dogs into essential partners for Texans living with significant challenges.

Sheri Soltes, founder and CEO of Service Dogs, Inc., says the dogs they train help serve people with hearing or mobility disabilities. The canines also comfort those enduring traumatic events.

In a time where most animal shelters in Central Texas are over capacity, Service Dogs, Inc. is handing out second chances to pups with potential to make a difference in people’s lives.

“They're sort of like the cousins to guide dogs,” Soltes said. “Except we're unique because we get our dogs from animal shelters instead of having a breeding program. So we help the dog and we help the person.”

She says the nonprofit can’t adopt every dog because the pups must meet specific qualifications, narrowing down from their age to their temperament.

Soltes says dogs must be at least a year and a half old in order to be X-rayed to assess their health, must be extremely people-oriented and should be comfortable being in public settings.

She says Service Dogs, Inc. may bring back one out of 500 dogs in a shelter.

“We've probably trained well over a 1,000, probably closer to 1,200 dogs by this time over 36 years. Any dog that we adopt from a shelter, if it doesn't complete the training, we don't take it back to the shelter, will find it a good pet home. So, they're going to win either way with us,” Soltes said.

Depending on the pooches’ temperament and personality, they’ll be trained in any and all of four programs available.

Soltes says the nonprofit trains the canines to be hearing dogs that can alert people who are deaf or hard of hearing. They could be trained for people with mobility disabilities, learning to open and close doors or steady someone’s balance.

She says they also train dogs to work in areas devastated by catastrophic storms, in courthouses in the victim's assistance departments or with first responders struggling with their mental health.

“They're not always the right tool for every kind of job, but they're very, very helpful,” she said.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

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welcome to texas

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Shelter to Service

Dripping Springs nonprofit trains service dogs rescued from shelters