Relo Update: Texas a Move-to Hub, Houston

In Houston, Relocation tech company moveBuddha has issued its 2024 Texas Migration Report, a document that proclaims the Lone Star State is utterly brimming with excellent economic opportunities and positive in-migration numbers.

‘Texas Suburbs are Booming’

“Texas suburbs are booming,” says the report. “The state’s economy is growing. Plus, nobody wants to move out. Yes, 2023 may have seen some slowdown in domestic migration to Texas, but Texans are likely saying: What slowdown? Especially in the Greater Houston area and some of the state’s top suburbs.”

By pure search volume, Texas is the Number 1 state for new moves so far in 2024. Texas attracts nearly one in five movers from across the nation looking to relocate to states with positive inflow, as stated by 2024 mover search data.

Texas is a hot destination as a whole. But Houston holds special ranking. The Houston metro area ranked Number 2 for population increase from 2022 to 2023 as stated by census data, growing by 140,000 new residents during that period.

Dallas took the Number 1 spot last year, but Houston may pull ahead in 2024.

The latest moveBuddha data shows Houston-area communities have taken the top four spots in the move-in-and-stay derby: Katy, Conroe, Cypress and Sugar Land. That gels with home sale figures showing rocketing residential transactions in the Houston area.

In fact, the Houston MSA was the top metro area for large-scale planned community sales in 2023, with 12 of them making the top 50 list. Communities located in both Katy and Cypress that show up multiple times on this ranking include Sunterra (Katy), Bridgeland (Cypress), Marvida (Cypress) and Tamarron (Katy).

Though housing prices in the Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin metro areas have all jumped nearly 50 percent since 2019, Houston-area housing costs haven’t risen as rapidly. As stated by Zillow, the average single-family dwelling in the Space City costs about $308,000 as of March 2024.

Why the big gain in the Houston area? For starters, says moveBuddha, the metro regained 150 percent of pandemic job losses. It may also be because the suburbs in Houston still offer affordable homes, and people searching for new dwellings are taking note.

The Texas Triangle

The Texas Triangle, that massive geographic segment of Houston that includes the state’s largest cities, is seeing intense growth. The area includes nine of the 10 largest Texas cities, says the report. (Number 8, Tyler, and Number 15, Amarillo, are outside said region.)

High-growth hot spots within the Texas Triangle include Cypress, Conroe, Katy, Sugar Land, Leander, Frisco, Temple, Georgetown and Grapevine.

In Cypress, the median home price is on par with the national average. The municipality is dominated by large, newly built homes and large-scale planned communities, with lakefront boat slips, beckoning rivers, clearwater lagoons and other clear signs of leisure lifestyles.

The median home price in both Conroe and Katy is under $350,000, less than the national cost of $354,000, as stated by a Zillow estimate.

So far in 2024, Texas’ in-to-out move ratio is up 17 percent over last year, and it’s not even moving season yet. The state is first in the nation for highest volume of net in-move searches, too, a big claim to fame for a state already known as a destination Mecca. Texas drew more than nine million newcomers between 2000 and 2022.

Fueled by explosive growth, Texas is attracting both businesses and individuals nationwide. Urban metros are teeming with newcomers setting down roots in historically off-the-radar towns.

Key takeaways from the moveBuddha report include:

• From 2010 to 2020, Texas grew by 4 million—more than any other state. The population surpassed 30 million in 2022 and welcomed 200,000 more out-of-staters from 2022 to 2023.
• Californians are (still) fueling growth, with more than 25 percent of move searches into Texas coming from the Golden State. Coincidentally,
• California is also the Number 1 destination for Texas moving out of state, followed by Florida, Colorado, North Carolina, and Washington.
• Looking at the in-and-out ratio for the most moved-to communities in the state, in Houston, 122 people set up new homes in the city for every 100 who move out.

Other communities with significant in-to-out ratios are: Cypress, leading the state with 246 people moving in for 100 who move out; Conroe, 230 in when 100 move out; Katy, 221 in when 100 move out; Sugar Land, 194 in when 100 bid farewell and Leander, 191 settle in when 100 people move out of town.

Also: Frisco, 165 folks move in for every 100 who move in; Temple, 165 set up housekeeping when 100 people move away; Tyler, 164 move in when 100 move out; Georgetown, 152 people arrive to replace 100 who move out; Grapevine, 140 new residents take the place for 100 move-aways and Plano, 135 people leave town after 100 move in; San Antonio, 129 new residents set down roots when 100 leave and Amarillo, 124 say hello to Texas after 100 say goodbye.