Despite anxiety over Texas’ growth and billboards in California trying to persuade residents to stay put, many still chose to switch states, often picking Austin and the larger Central Texas region as their next home.
People selecting Texas over the Golden State cited affordability as a key factor. But for some, it’s come with different costs: dense traffic, a lack of dependable public transportation and scorching heat that transplants say is lowering their quality of life. An August report from Insider found that tech workers in particular are getting fed up with Texas, frustrated that career opportunities just aren’t as plentiful as they are in Silicon Valley.
As a result, people are moving out of the Lone Star State, or at the very least are considering it. Using U.S. Postal Service data, Insider found that from January to May this year, Austin saw the fifth-largest net outward migration among major U.S. cities, trailing New York, Los Angeles, and Houston, which actually ranked No. 1 among cities that saw the most people leave during that stretch.
Those are good points. I suppose issues involving children are the biggest concerns. I tend not to think about them much because I don’t have children, but my friends in Florida do. They seem content with the quality of their local schools but I can see how school quality could vary wildly.
A couple years back, an old undergrad buddy was bragging about how he and his wife were moving to Florida because their teachers paid well. Obviously we had a lot of “what the fuck?” conversations behind their back, and a buddy’s wife put it best:
Anyone living in one of the hellhole states (mostly Texas and Florida) and saying “oh, its fine, this doesn’t affect me” is a republican or actively does not give a shit about their partner and family.
And if people somehow don’t have a single non-cisgender white male in their life? Well… what was that old jeff foxworthy joke again?