Author Topic: California, Dallas feed Houston population growth  (Read 566 times)

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Online Elderberry

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California, Dallas feed Houston population growth
« on: February 24, 2019, 01:46:40 pm »
Houston Chronicle by  R.A. Schuetz Feb. 22, 2019

When Neveda Bryant, 64, retired from her California state job in 2017, she promptly sold her San Diego condo and packed her bags for the Houston area.

“Being on a fixed income, you have to count every penny,” Bryant said. “My retirement dollars can certainly go a lot further here.”

She joined her son and daughter-in-law, who made the move a decade ago because they dreamed of owning a home and couldn’t afford the prices in Southern California. Since her move, Bryant said, more of her extended family have made the transition to Houston from California.

Bryant and her family are part of a wave that has seen Texas draw more than 524,000 new residents from out of state in each of the last five years, according to the latest relocation report by Texas Realtors. Last year, the association said, some 63,000 Californians made the move to Texas. (The state’s net population growth in fiscal 2018 was around 380,000 people, according to the Census Bureau — the Realtor’s numbers don’t take into account those who left the state during that time.)

The Houston area has been the main attraction. Harris County saw the greatest influx of people from out of state than any other region, the report said, with Californians predominating the out-of-state arrivals.

“If we’re just laying it out on the table — people aren’t moving here for the weather,” said Chance Brown, owner of CB&A Realtors, a residential brokerage in Willowbrook. “There’s almost always an economic reason.”

Some, like Bryant, choose Texas after they retire, maximizing their fixed-incomes by moving to a lower-cost state that does not tax pension payments. Others make the move in their 20s and 30s in order to better afford a home and family. Yet others are drawn by Houston’s job market, particularly workers in the energy sector.

“The energy business has always been number one in Houston,” said John Daugherty, whose eponymous River Oaks residential brokerage firm provides corporate relocation services. Daugherty said his business has seen a large number of people relocating to Houston from Chevron’s headquarters in San Ramon, Calif.

Energetic competition

The dynamic energy landscape here saw dozens of families come from Los Angeles after Occidental Petroleum moved its headquarters to Houston in 2014. More recently, 1,200 XTO Energy employees and their families relocated from Dallas in 2018 after the Fort Worth company was acquired by Exxon Mobil.

The XTO migration helped Dallas claim the top spot among in-state sources of new Houston residents last year.

“When an industry is in turmoil, like we saw in the oil and gas industry, they realize they need to be a lot closer … to like-minded people, resources and the talent pool,” said Patrick Jankowski of the Greater Houston Partnership.

More: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/California-Dallas-feed-Houston-population-growth-13636797.php

Offline Sanguine

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Re: California, Dallas feed Houston population growth
« Reply #1 on: February 24, 2019, 02:32:51 pm »
Quote
Some, like Bryant, choose Texas after they retire, maximizing their fixed-incomes by moving to a lower-cost state that does not tax pension payments. Others make the move in their 20s and 30s in order to better afford a home and family. Yet others are drawn by Houston’s job market, particularly workers in the energy sector.

Hmmm, able to keep more of one's resources, ability to find a job and and ability to earn a living wage.  Apparently, that's important.