Why People Are Exiting the Lone Star State

• Texas has experienced a surge in popularity during the pandemic that drove home prices up 30%.
• Meanwhile the political freedom some sought in the state has encouraged others to leave.
• Have you left or do you plan to leave Texas? Business Insider wants to hear from you.

While some homebuyers seek the American dream in Texas, many are leaving the state to find it elsewhere.

“Lifelong Texan here. I am definitely preparing an exit strategy,” one anonymous user posted on a Reddit thread about leaving Texas. “From the heat to the stripping away of human rights, I’m just done.”

Another poster struck a similar chord. “I’ve been in Texas most of my life, and my husband and I were always planning on retiring here (in about 5 years from now),” they wrote. “But between this intense heat, crazy politics, and cost of living, we’ve decided to leave for good and head to Knoxville.”

While people have been moving into the Lone Star state to take advantage of its relatively affordable real-estate market, political atmosphere, and work opportunities, some of those same qualities are driving others out. Over 494,000 people left Texas between 2021 and 2022 (though the state gained a net population of 174,261.) It’s a trend that could intensify as housing costs surge and the state’s political landscape becomes more polarized.

Housing costs have some looking for affordability elsewhere

Texas experienced a surge in popularity during the pandemic that pushed home prices up 30% since 2019, according to data from Realtor.com. At the same, residents are also grappling with property taxes that are among the highest in the country.

Californians seeking more affordable homes made the Golden-to-Lone-Star-state moving route the most popular in the country between 2021 and 2022, with almost 108,000 people making the move. But there’s a one big downside.

“The property tax percentage rate is higher,” Marie Bailey, a Texas-based realtor who moved from El Segundo, California, to Prosper, Texas, in 2017, previously told Business Insider. “Every time a prospective client calls me, it’s one of the first things I talk about.”

As Texas starts to lose its edge as an inexpensive and affordable housing choice, many locals are shifting their focus to the Midwest.

For Texans, “the Midwest has emerged as popular recently because it is just by and large the most affordable region,” Hannah Jones, Realtor.com’s economic research analyst, told Business Insider in October. “We’re seeing this trend of buyers looking for affordability really explode.”

The political freedom many moved to the state for is driving others away

For many Americans, politics are just as important as housing affordability when choosing a place to live.

According to a 2022 survey by mortgage marketplace LendingTree involving 1,545 participants, 39% of respondents said they’ve relocated or might consider moving to a different state if their political views didn’t align with the majority.

Jackie Burse, a self-identified Conservative, is one of the many Californians who have sought out Texas for its political environment. Burse told Business Insider in September that it played a crucial role in her decision to relocate to Texas in 2021.

In Texas there is “room for people to believe what they want without being shamed,” Burse said, unlike in California.

Contrary to Burse, Bob McCranie, a Dallas-based real-estate broker who created a real-estate service that helps LGBTQ+ people in Texas sell their homes and get connected with agents in different parts of the country and abroad, told KXAN News in July that the state’s lack of inclusivity has created an unwelcoming environment.

“What we all want as human beings is to feel a level of safety, and if your state is making you feel unsafe, there’s no reason to stay,” McCranie said. “I can’t believe somebody could look at, let’s say, California or New York versus Texas and Florida and say that LGBTQ people feel more welcome in Florida and Texas.”

Texas hasn’t lived up to its promises for some

Some recent transplants have also grown disenchanted with the state.

In Austin, some tech workers who flocked to the city during the pandemic just can’t seem to get out fast enough.

Nick Thomas, 30, moved to Austin from downtown Los Angeles in January 2021 and told Business Insider in August he hoped to move back to California soon. He called Austin is a “watered-down” version of places he’s previously lived like Los Angeles and San Francisco.

“People say it’s a tech scene just because that’s what they were told, but when you get to it, there’s no evidence for it,” Thomas said. “I think it was just oversold.”

Jules Rogers, a reporter who relocated from Portland, Oregon, to Houston in 2018 for a position at a local newspaper, left Texas less than two years after moving to the city.

Though she was earning a 20% higher income and living in a more spacious apartment, she said that her quality of life hadn’t improved.

“I tried to tell myself I just needed to give it a chance, settle in, and get used to Houston, but I missed the trees, the air, the mountains, the ocean, the vibes, and the culture of the Pacific Northwest,” Rogers previously wrote on Business Insider.

She has since returned to Portland where she said she feels “much happier now back at home.”

Are you a Texan who has recently left or has plans to leave the state? We want to hear from you. Email reporter Alcynna Lloyd at [email protected] to share your story.