Golden State to Lone Star State

Houston leads Texas in most Californians relocating from this county, says new study

So, so many Newstonians.

Photo courtesy of TxDOT

The Hollywood-to-Houston population pipeline is overflowing, a new study suggests.

Harris County ranks as the No. 1 destination for people relocating to Texas from California, according to a StorageCafé data analysis. The No. 1 place of origin? Los Angeles County, home to Hollywood.

Among California counties, Harris County attracted the most new arrivals from Los Angeles County in 2019 (3,263), followed by San Diego County (840), and Riverside County (698).

Why are Californians swapping the West Coast for the Gulf Coast? A prime reason appears to be housing costs. The analysis shows the median price difference in 2020 between a home in Los Angeles County and a home in Harris County was $482,010. And even though they’re paying less for a home in Harris County, L.A. transplants are gaining a median 577 square feet in additional space.

“When housing prices in California go up, so does migration to Texas. When housing prices in California go down, migration to Texas goes down as well,” William Fulton, director of Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research, tells StorageCafé, a self-storage platform.

Looking at the California-to-Texas connection, Los Angeles County holds the top seven spots in the ranking of counties that send the most new residents to our state. Here are the top seven:

Los Angeles County to Harris County (3,263 new residents in 2019).
Los Angeles County to Dallas County (2,492 new residents in 2019).
Los Angeles County to Travis County (2,060 new residents in 2019).
Los Angeles County to Collin County (1,609 new residents in 2019).
Los Angeles County to Tarrant County (1,374 new residents in 2019).
Los Angeles County to Bexar County (1,366 new residents in 2019).
Los Angeles County to Denton County (1,290 new residents in 2019).

“Elon Musk is well on his way to being the first human on Mars, but he’s far from being a pioneer when it comes to moving to Texas. His recent move to the state is just one among the almost 190 daily moves from California to Texas that occurred from 2010 to 2019,” StorageCafé says.

Here are the top 10 counties for new arrivals from all California counties in 2019:

Harris County — 8,408.
Dallas County — 7,923.
Travis County — 6,725.
Tarrant County — 6,623.
Bexar County — 5,340.
Collin County — 5,294.
Denton County — 4,028.
Williamson County — 2,877.
El Paso County — 2,521.
Bell County — 1,727.

lists reports

star-spangled flop

Texas bottoms out on new list of most patriotic states in U.S.

Texas Capitol building with state and US flags

Photo by Muhammad Ma'ruf on Unsplash

Texas ranks 45th for the second year in a row.

Texas has fizzled out once again as one of the least patriotic places in the U.S., according to a new report.

WalletHub's report, "Most Patriotic States in America (2026)", was released just ahead of America's 250th anniversary and compares the military and civic engagement levels across all 50 states. Factors such as the number of veterans per 1,000 civilian residents, the share of adults who voted in the 2024 presidential election, volunteer rates, and others, were used to determine which states are the "most patriotic."

The Lone Star State sits at 45th out of 50 for the second year in a row. Texas first earned its surprising rank as the 6th least patriotic state in 2025, after previously ranking 36th in 2024. Texas' performance across the two main categories in the study remain unchanged year-over-year, with the state ranking 13th nationally for its military engagement and 47th in civic engagement.

Texas has the third-highest average number of military enlistees in the U.S., but it has the second-lowest percentage of adults who voted in the 2024 presidential election.

WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said the most patriotic states in America — this year they are Virginia, Montana, and Vermont — have high voter turnouts, a large share of residents who are veterans or active military, and boast a large share of the population that volunteer with local or national organizations.

Essentially, patriotism can be found in places where residents are "actively working to improve conditions for your fellow Americans," says WalletHub.

"Being a patriot means loving your country and its people while also recognizing its flaws and striving to make it the best it can be," the report's author wrote.

At least Texas is more patriotic than the bottom five states in the report: Florida (No. 46), Alabama (No. 47), Louisiana (No. 48), New York (No. 49), and Arkansas (No. 50).

The top 10 most patriotic states in America this year are:

No. 1 – Virginia
No. 2 – Montana
No. 3 – Vermont
No. 4 – Colorado
No. 5 – Oregon
No. 6 – North Dakota
No. 7 – Washington
No. 8 – Maryland
No. 9 – Minnesota
No. 10 – New Hampshire

texas wallethub reports 4th of july

Golden State to Lone Star State

Houston leads Texas in most Californians relocating from this county, says new study

star-spangled flop

Texas bottoms out on new list of most patriotic states in U.S.

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