big little living
Texas gains big recognition as one of top states for tiny homes
Tiny homes keep popping up across Texas. In 2019, for example, the community of Eastwood made a splash with the development of diminutive dwellings in the neighborhood.
Elsewhere in Texas, for example, in downtown Lake Dallas, about a dozen families have settled into a tiny home village billed as the first center-of-the-city development of its kind. In the Austin area, several tiny home communities are already open or are in the works.
Now, a new ranking indicates these communities in Houston, Lake Dallas, and the Austin area are onto something. IPX1031, a financial services provider for real estate investors, puts Texas at No. 2 on its list of the best states for tiny homes.
“Sure, everything might be bigger in Texas, but that doesn’t mean your home has to be,” IPX1031 says. “With an average tiny home cost of $48,120 and a median income of $64,034, you can get the most bang for your buck when it comes to tiny living in Texas.”
Georgia grabs the No. 1 spot on the list. IPX1031 based its ranking on each state’s average cost to buy a tiny home, median income, cost of living, average annual temperature, and percentage of parkland.
While Texas takes second place in the ranking of the best states for tiny homes, it doesn’t rank highly for interest in this style of living. A review of Google search activity by IPX1031 pinpointed Vermont as the state where residents are most curious about tiny homes, followed by New Hampshire, Maine, Wyoming, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Alaska.
A survey last year by IPX1031 found that 56 percent of Americans would live in a tiny home, with affordability cited as the No. 1 reason. Most tiny homes measure 400 square feet or less. By one estimate, tiny homes make up about 1 percent of the U.S. home market.
By the way, Texas’ richest resident, Tesla and SpaceX leader Elon Musk, on November 13 swatted down speculation that he’s living in a Boxabl tiny house along the Gulf Coast. While hailing Boxabl as a “cool product,” Musk tweeted that he’s been living in a small $50,000 home in South Texas for the past two years.
“Feels more homey to live in a small house,” Musk told his 64.5 million Twitter followers.
