9 ms·

Why so many people are moving to Texas

91 points by schrofer 13y ago

jseliger 13y ago
Nos. 2, 3, 7, and 8 are basically about housing costs; as Glaeser and Tobio note in "The Rise of the Sunbelt": http://www.nber.org/papers/w13071 http://www.nber.org/papers/w13071, Sunbelt states like Texas are growing so fast because building housing there is cheap. In most coastal cities, by contrast, building housing is exceedingly expensive and sometimes verges on impossible (http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2012/05/facebook_george_lucas_and_nimbyism_the_idiotic_rules_preventing_silicon_valley_from_building_the_houses_and_offices_we_need_to_power_american_innovation_.html http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2012/05/face...). So when demand rises, prices rise too, and existing residents see the purchasing power of their salaries erode because much of those salaries have to go to housing costs. In Texas, when demand for housing rises so does supply.
- Kalium 13y ago
  It's worth noting that building housing is cheap in Texas because it relies on illegal labor. Ref. http://www.npr.org/2013/04/10/176677299/construction-booming-in-texas-but-many-workers-pay-dearly http://www.npr.org/2013/04/10/176677299/construction-booming... and http://www.npr.org/2013/04/11/176777498/texas-contractors-say-playing-by-the-rules-doesnt-pay http://www.npr.org/2013/04/11/176777498/texas-contractors-sa...
- fchief 13y ago
  It is not only housing, because on this basis alone, other states would win out. I'd say that it is a big factor though when the other items mentioned are in place.
DamnYuppie 13y ago
Only downside is most of the implants want to bring their left leaning policies with them, apparently completely, and blissfully, unaware that it was those same policies that ruined the states they came from. I am looking at You CA and NY.
- king_jester 13y ago
  What you are thinking of is gentrification, which does ruin communities over time.
- afreak 13y ago
  Are we speaking socially or economically?
  - DamnYuppie 13y ago
    To be honest both. How can you have a nanny system that doesn't impact the quality of life and continued economic viability of the state?
- jbooth 13y ago
  Yeah, it's practically the third world here in NYC. Texas's top industry: Defense (100% government spending). Texas's 2nd industry: Oil (government subsidized, and having oil is surprisingly not a function of income tax rates). Texas's most exciting economic area: Liberal Austin. I'm not going to rip on Texas but it's gotta be awfully hard for you to feel free-market-superior to the city that has Wall St in it and an entrepreneur on every single street corner.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - roboneal 13y ago
    Uhhh, "old school" Houston and Dallas metro areas are #1 and #2 respectively in job growth in the nation. While Austin may be an "exciting" center of research and technology, it's hardly a "job creation" engine -- at least not directly.
  - DamnYuppie 13y ago
    That doesn't address my original point at all. My original point was that all the laws passed in those states have been driving the cost of living up and median standard of living down, while consistently stripping away the rights of individuals. You can tout Wall Street all you want but not many out side of your city see them as a good thing, most of the country sees them as a parasite with too much political power and way too little oversight. SEC, Secret Service, FBI, and DOJ be damned none of them have gone after them with any rigor. You also don't have a good grasp on your own cities history. There as a time when manufacturing and textiles was its biggest industries. Yet you managed to drive them all out. If we decide to stop sending you food and gas you city comes to a stand still. Then you can have hungry entrepreneurs on every street corner...
DanielBMarkham 13y ago
A month ago I was talking to another HNer about where to take a startup after launching in the valley. There's a ton of great places: Seattle, Raleigh-Durham, Boston, L.A., DC beltway, etc. but I kept coming back to Austin. They've got so many things you would want: low cost of living, low regulatory burden, friendly community, lots of parks and open spaces, great nightlife, ease of travel, and so on. When I look at the bay area, I wish them the best. They're still hands-down the best place to find money. But not so much in my mind of places to actually live. If I had a break-even startup and just wanted to live somewhere that I was surrounded by great talent doing cool things? I'd choose Austin in a heartbeat. Although it's a close race, in my mind over the last few years Austin has moved to #2 in the startup world stateside. And it continues to improve.
- wavefunction 13y ago
  Cost of living has continued to skyrocket, and all the newly arrived are destroying the once great character of Austin. It's already too late.
  - famousactress 13y ago
    Said just about everyone who's ever lived anywhere at any point in time.
    - wavefunction 13y ago
      Minorities and artists, and the poor are getting priced out of the city and abandoning the "Live Music Capital of the World" for friendlier and cheaper climes. But don't let the facts get in the way of your snark.
      - dmix 13y ago
        That's literally been said about every big cultural city in the world. Berlin, nyc, sf, Toronto... Gentrification in Austin is not at all unique.
      - 13y ago
IvyMike 13y ago
The growth in Austin is pretty crazy. I was there a few months ago, about two years after my last visit, and things were markedly more crowded. I remember thinking "I can't wait to get back home to get away from all this traffic". I live in Los Angeles.
- terrellm 13y ago
  For those looking for a smaller city and/or more conservative city than Austin, check out Bryan/College Station 90 miles away. BCS is home to 50,000 students at Texas A&M University and also TAMU Startup Aggieland. If any HN'ers are in the area or interested in the area, feel free to email me (contact info in my profile).
  - clubhi 13y ago
    BCS is a shit hole.
    - tnorthcutt 13y ago
      What an obnoxiously rude and unproductive comment. What personal offenses have you felt that led you to feel that way?
      - damoncali 13y ago
        Probably all the Aggies.
        adl 13y ago
        I know that it's a kind of joke to make fun of Aggies, but they are extremely nice people and T A&M has a great community an culture. (Not an Aggie, but every one I have met treated me very nice)
        tnorthcutt 13y ago
        Thank you. I'm an Aggie, and I'm glad to hear that's been your experience with others from my school. Most of us try to be that way.
2bluesc 13y ago
About 6 months ago I left Dallas for San Francisco. While Austin is a bit different, the amount of start-up things going on Dallas isn't even close to what the Bay area has to offer. I must admit that I did enjoy the living in Dallas more then SF, more space, less cost etc. The jobs in SF though prevailed and I left. Maybe I'll return to Dallas or Austin when I get older.
zinssmeister 13y ago
Pretty good points in this article. After moving from Germany to Dallas and then to San Francisco I can 100% agree with most of these reasons. California definitely feels more like a headache than Texas in terms of Rules, housing, general atmosphere. If I had kids I'd also pick Texas over California. Unless you know, I'd have several millions... then I'd buy a house in Atherton.
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  > After moving from Germany to Dallas and then to San Francisco I can 100% agree with most of these reasons. California definitely feels more like a headache than Texas in terms of Rules, housing, general atmosphere. Having lived in the SF Bay Area, LA Basin, and different parts of the Central Valley, I'm sort of amused that people think that experience with San Francisco is a reasonable basis for generalizing about California. Its probably about as useful as generalizations about Europe drawn from experience limited to the Vatican.
  - zinssmeister 13y ago
    there is still a general "flair" inside a state. And living in San Francisco doesn't mean I don't spent any time outside of it. Napa, Carmel, LA, San Diego, etc. these are all places I've experience over weekend trips and of course they are all different and I take all those experiences to paint myself a picture of the state of california. Also Europe != California in size ;)
ambiate 13y ago
I compare Austin to little San Francisco. Texas is not the South. Wipe that stereotype from your mind. I live in Waco, TX. Two hours from the hearts of Austin, Fort Worth and Dallas. First: Internet. With Google Fiber and Grande Communications, internet speeds are insane. Datacenters are abundant and in every direction. I can drive to colos. Second: Texas is multi-geographical. You can head south towards San Antonio/Austin for amazing caves and mountains. You can head west for a huge desert. You can head southwest for a near rain forest experience. You can head east for an experience more akin to LA/MS. Southeast gets you the beaches. I'm literally 2-4 hours in every direction from experiencing a different Texas. Memorial day weekend, we climbed and caved the Enchanted Rock near Austin. The drive through zoo in Glen Rose is amazing (giraffes eating from my hand through the sunroof!). Aquariums, museums, galleries, and exhibits passing through all the time. Third: There is oil money here. Lots of 'old' money. If you know how to use that advice to your advantage, you'll win the Texas game. Fourth: 2000 square foot home with a huge yard in the middle of the city cost me $75,000. Old buildings and banks from the 30s are getting auctioned off by the city for 5-25k on a monthly basis. Fifth: Texans do not like leaving Texas. My university colleagues have settled for SQL CRUD jobs in Austin/Dallas. Data science and bioinformatics is a common degree around these parts. They would rather do CRUD than have to leave Texas. I never thought I would settle here. In fact, I had the San Francisco dream. Yet, once I visited SF, I realized I would be a millionaire in Texas. With our 1700 sq foot 2 bedroom apartment, we easily lived off $950/mo. SF has opportunities, but to be honest, I'm just not the type to apply myself to utilize those opportunities.
- nilkn 13y ago
  Not all of Texas is cheap. In fact, some areas are extremely expensive. I've noticed that when people compare San Francisco to Texas they are almost always comparing apples to oranges. They'll pick an area of Texas which is not at all analogous to San Francisco and point out how cheap it is. But if you look at areas which are more analogous, like nice neighborhoods in the center of Houston, you'll find that decent houses are now $800k-$1M. There is absolutely no way you would get even a plot of dirt for $75k in the nicer neighborhoods of Houston in the middle of the city. The dirt alone will cost you $300k at least. And that's a low estimate.
clubhi 13y ago
I used to be pissed off when more people moved to Austin. As a land owner I now get excited.
johnrob 13y ago
I often wonder if entrepreneurs will start to flee silicon valley for similar reasons. While we have the best assortment of resources in the valley, the competition for them is getting more intense by the day. It applies to everything - even rent prices. It may be easier to raise money here but the problem is that you need to spend a whole lot more too. Does the easier fundraising make up for the increased burn? I don't know. Burn is a very bad thing for a startup.
foohbarbaz 13y ago
Have a friend who lived in Texas for a while. Came back hating it. Said weather is pretty bad and there's no outdoors. The only thing going for outdoors is caving (normally we do hiking, mountaineering, climbing, kayaking, canyoneering, etc -- every adventure you could think of). What's good? "Well, if you like food, there are good restaurants". Pass.
akgerber 13y ago
In most coastal states, it's difficult to do greenfield development in high-income cities because of some combination of laws preserving open space (e.g. California) and because greenfields have basically been developed to the limit of sane commuting distance (e.g. NY/DC). Moreover, with the interstate system built to completion, there are no new public works projects brining new greenfields within commuting distance of major metros, as had happened with the implementation of horsecars, streetcars, interurbans, commuter railroads, and interstate highways. Many areas have seen brownfield development, but such land is relatively limited and expensive to remediate. At the same time, zoning laws make it difficult-to-impossible to build denser housing (even low- or mid-rise apartment buildings) to replace single-family homes on valuable land at any kind of scale. This means the population of most of the most-productive American metros has become essentially fixed, or stuck growing at a lower level than American population growth. Instead those with the most money are bidding up the limited population supply, and those with less money <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/06/13/243972/the-secret-to-texas-success-they-build-houses-there/>are http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/06/13/243972/the-secr... moving to Texas and other places where it's easy to build homes</a>. And Silicon Valley (and the Bay Area in general), <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/05/03/silicon_valley_housing_boom_there_s_no_such_thing.html>rather http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/05/03/silicon_valle... than building more housing during boomtimes</a>, is simply letting its housing prices increase to insane levels. Prop. 13, which insulates current homeowners from even having to pay higher property taxes on their ridiculously valuable homes, certainly doesn't help things.
api 13y ago
Big cities without the big city real estate hyperinflation is very, very appealing.
curt 13y ago
Texas is just plain run well. The state barely had a recession because they had common sense regulations that stop the housing from skyrocketing in the first place. It takes days not months or years to get building permits. Texas is a perfect example of how the country should be run as a whole.
- conover 13y ago
  I'm torn on the fire code thing (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/10/us/after-plant-explosion-texas-remains-wary-of-regulation.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/10/us/after-plant-explosion-t...). It's one thing to eschew regulation but fire codes?
- tdees40 13y ago
  Its resilience during the recession at least has something to do with oil. At least acknowledge that possibility.
  - saryant 13y ago
    A large part of it is because Texas had extraordinarily strict lending standards, enacted after the oil bust of the 1980's. That, plus our already affordable housing, meant that Texas didn't have a property bubble burst in 2008.
iblaine 13y ago
An objective point here...if enough NY & CA residents moved to Texas to swing it to a blue state then the Republican party would be doomed.
karl_gluck 13y ago
While I agree with most of these as great reasons for moving to Austin, as a resident I'd caution those interested in moving here to not take them at face value. Come visit and consider what they're not telling you when making a decision: - It was cheap, but it's not staying cheap. The idea that 'Austin is cheap' has inspired a lot of people to start moving here recently, and the reality hasn't quite started to impede the hype. Reality? My rent has gone up 10%/yr each of the 4 years I've been here, and home values / rent prices across the area are still rising rapidly. A 640 sq ft. studio apartment that was $530/mo when I moved here now rents for $1050/mo, and I'm not even close to downtown. - Texas has no income tax, and house prices may seem to be good at first glance, but property taxes are VERY high. 2.7%-3.5%, and some areas are taxed by multiple entities. - If you can't find anything affordable close to work, prepare for a nightmare daily drive. Most people I work with have a 45- to 60-minute one-way commute. Austin rapidly outgrew its 2 highways, so "rush hour" is 7:45 AM - 10 AM, 3:45 PM - 7 PM every day, except Friday afternoon where it starts at 2:30 PM. - Even as someone with a good software job and no debt, I can't come close to affording a house within a 30 minute one-way commute of work that was built after 1960 given the recent price increases. - Austin is hot, so be ready for that. We set a record of 90 consecutive days of 100+ degree weather in 2011! - Despite all of the above, I do love living in Austin for its food, weather (I hate gray skies and winter), and culture. I worry about how long I'm going to be able to afford to stay... but for now it's a great place to be.
supercanuck 13y ago
I live in Los Angeles and commute to work on a weekly basis to Houston via Southwest. I would agree that there is more money to be made in Texas.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
eli_gottlieb 13y ago
Apparently some people can always be trusted to rewrite their entire perception of social reality in abject worship of low real-estate prices.

91 points by schrofer 13y ago

Nos. 2, 3, 7, and 8 are basically about housing costs; as Glaeser and Tobio note in "The Rise of the Sunbelt": http://www.nber.org/papers/w13071 http://www.nber.org/papers/w13071, Sunbelt states like Texas are growing so fast because building housing there is cheap. In most coastal cities, by contrast, building housing is exceedingly expensive and sometimes verges on impossible (http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2012/05/facebook_george_lucas_and_nimbyism_the_idiotic_rules_preventing_silicon_valley_from_building_the_houses_and_offices_we_need_to_power_american_innovation_.html http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2012/05/face...). So when demand rises, prices rise too, and existing residents see the purchasing power of their salaries erode because much of those salaries have to go to housing costs. In Texas, when demand for housing rises so does supply.

Kalium 13y ago
It's worth noting that building housing is cheap in Texas because it relies on illegal labor. Ref. http://www.npr.org/2013/04/10/176677299/construction-booming-in-texas-but-many-workers-pay-dearly http://www.npr.org/2013/04/10/176677299/construction-booming... and http://www.npr.org/2013/04/11/176777498/texas-contractors-say-playing-by-the-rules-doesnt-pay http://www.npr.org/2013/04/11/176777498/texas-contractors-sa...
fchief 13y ago
It is not only housing, because on this basis alone, other states would win out. I'd say that it is a big factor though when the other items mentioned are in place.

DamnYuppie 13y ago

Only downside is most of the implants want to bring their left leaning policies with them, apparently completely, and blissfully, unaware that it was those same policies that ruined the states they came from. I am looking at You CA and NY.

king_jester 13y ago
What you are thinking of is gentrification, which does ruin communities over time.
afreak 13y ago
Are we speaking socially or economically?
- DamnYuppie 13y ago
  To be honest both. How can you have a nanny system that doesn't impact the quality of life and continued economic viability of the state?
jbooth 13y ago
Yeah, it's practically the third world here in NYC. Texas's top industry: Defense (100% government spending). Texas's 2nd industry: Oil (government subsidized, and having oil is surprisingly not a function of income tax rates). Texas's most exciting economic area: Liberal Austin. I'm not going to rip on Texas but it's gotta be awfully hard for you to feel free-market-superior to the city that has Wall St in it and an entrepreneur on every single street corner.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- roboneal 13y ago
  Uhhh, "old school" Houston and Dallas metro areas are #1 and #2 respectively in job growth in the nation. While Austin may be an "exciting" center of research and technology, it's hardly a "job creation" engine -- at least not directly.
- DamnYuppie 13y ago
  That doesn't address my original point at all. My original point was that all the laws passed in those states have been driving the cost of living up and median standard of living down, while consistently stripping away the rights of individuals. You can tout Wall Street all you want but not many out side of your city see them as a good thing, most of the country sees them as a parasite with too much political power and way too little oversight. SEC, Secret Service, FBI, and DOJ be damned none of them have gone after them with any rigor. You also don't have a good grasp on your own cities history. There as a time when manufacturing and textiles was its biggest industries. Yet you managed to drive them all out. If we decide to stop sending you food and gas you city comes to a stand still. Then you can have hungry entrepreneurs on every street corner...

DanielBMarkham 13y ago

A month ago I was talking to another HNer about where to take a startup after launching in the valley. There's a ton of great places: Seattle, Raleigh-Durham, Boston, L.A., DC beltway, etc. but I kept coming back to Austin. They've got so many things you would want: low cost of living, low regulatory burden, friendly community, lots of parks and open spaces, great nightlife, ease of travel, and so on. When I look at the bay area, I wish them the best. They're still hands-down the best place to find money. But not so much in my mind of places to actually live. If I had a break-even startup and just wanted to live somewhere that I was surrounded by great talent doing cool things? I'd choose Austin in a heartbeat. Although it's a close race, in my mind over the last few years Austin has moved to #2 in the startup world stateside. And it continues to improve.

wavefunction 13y ago
Cost of living has continued to skyrocket, and all the newly arrived are destroying the once great character of Austin. It's already too late.
- famousactress 13y ago
  Said just about everyone who's ever lived anywhere at any point in time.
  - wavefunction 13y ago
    Minorities and artists, and the poor are getting priced out of the city and abandoning the "Live Music Capital of the World" for friendlier and cheaper climes. But don't let the facts get in the way of your snark.
    - dmix 13y ago
      That's literally been said about every big cultural city in the world. Berlin, nyc, sf, Toronto... Gentrification in Austin is not at all unique.
    - 13y ago

IvyMike 13y ago

The growth in Austin is pretty crazy. I was there a few months ago, about two years after my last visit, and things were markedly more crowded. I remember thinking "I can't wait to get back home to get away from all this traffic". I live in Los Angeles.

terrellm 13y ago
For those looking for a smaller city and/or more conservative city than Austin, check out Bryan/College Station 90 miles away. BCS is home to 50,000 students at Texas A&M University and also TAMU Startup Aggieland. If any HN'ers are in the area or interested in the area, feel free to email me (contact info in my profile).
- clubhi 13y ago
  BCS is a shit hole.
  - tnorthcutt 13y ago
    What an obnoxiously rude and unproductive comment. What personal offenses have you felt that led you to feel that way?
    - damoncali 13y ago
      Probably all the Aggies.
      - adl 13y ago
        I know that it's a kind of joke to make fun of Aggies, but they are extremely nice people and T A&M has a great community an culture. (Not an Aggie, but every one I have met treated me very nice)
        tnorthcutt 13y ago
        Thank you. I'm an Aggie, and I'm glad to hear that's been your experience with others from my school. Most of us try to be that way.

2bluesc 13y ago

About 6 months ago I left Dallas for San Francisco. While Austin is a bit different, the amount of start-up things going on Dallas isn't even close to what the Bay area has to offer. I must admit that I did enjoy the living in Dallas more then SF, more space, less cost etc. The jobs in SF though prevailed and I left. Maybe I'll return to Dallas or Austin when I get older.

zinssmeister 13y ago

Pretty good points in this article. After moving from Germany to Dallas and then to San Francisco I can 100% agree with most of these reasons. California definitely feels more like a headache than Texas in terms of Rules, housing, general atmosphere. If I had kids I'd also pick Texas over California. Unless you know, I'd have several millions... then I'd buy a house in Atherton.

dragonwriter 13y ago
> After moving from Germany to Dallas and then to San Francisco I can 100% agree with most of these reasons. California definitely feels more like a headache than Texas in terms of Rules, housing, general atmosphere. Having lived in the SF Bay Area, LA Basin, and different parts of the Central Valley, I'm sort of amused that people think that experience with San Francisco is a reasonable basis for generalizing about California. Its probably about as useful as generalizations about Europe drawn from experience limited to the Vatican.
- zinssmeister 13y ago
  there is still a general "flair" inside a state. And living in San Francisco doesn't mean I don't spent any time outside of it. Napa, Carmel, LA, San Diego, etc. these are all places I've experience over weekend trips and of course they are all different and I take all those experiences to paint myself a picture of the state of california. Also Europe != California in size ;)

ambiate 13y ago

I compare Austin to little San Francisco. Texas is not the South. Wipe that stereotype from your mind. I live in Waco, TX. Two hours from the hearts of Austin, Fort Worth and Dallas. First: Internet. With Google Fiber and Grande Communications, internet speeds are insane. Datacenters are abundant and in every direction. I can drive to colos. Second: Texas is multi-geographical. You can head south towards San Antonio/Austin for amazing caves and mountains. You can head west for a huge desert. You can head southwest for a near rain forest experience. You can head east for an experience more akin to LA/MS. Southeast gets you the beaches. I'm literally 2-4 hours in every direction from experiencing a different Texas. Memorial day weekend, we climbed and caved the Enchanted Rock near Austin. The drive through zoo in Glen Rose is amazing (giraffes eating from my hand through the sunroof!). Aquariums, museums, galleries, and exhibits passing through all the time. Third: There is oil money here. Lots of 'old' money. If you know how to use that advice to your advantage, you'll win the Texas game. Fourth: 2000 square foot home with a huge yard in the middle of the city cost me $75,000. Old buildings and banks from the 30s are getting auctioned off by the city for 5-25k on a monthly basis. Fifth: Texans do not like leaving Texas. My university colleagues have settled for SQL CRUD jobs in Austin/Dallas. Data science and bioinformatics is a common degree around these parts. They would rather do CRUD than have to leave Texas. I never thought I would settle here. In fact, I had the San Francisco dream. Yet, once I visited SF, I realized I would be a millionaire in Texas. With our 1700 sq foot 2 bedroom apartment, we easily lived off $950/mo. SF has opportunities, but to be honest, I'm just not the type to apply myself to utilize those opportunities.

nilkn 13y ago
Not all of Texas is cheap. In fact, some areas are extremely expensive. I've noticed that when people compare San Francisco to Texas they are almost always comparing apples to oranges. They'll pick an area of Texas which is not at all analogous to San Francisco and point out how cheap it is. But if you look at areas which are more analogous, like nice neighborhoods in the center of Houston, you'll find that decent houses are now $800k-$1M. There is absolutely no way you would get even a plot of dirt for $75k in the nicer neighborhoods of Houston in the middle of the city. The dirt alone will cost you $300k at least. And that's a low estimate.

clubhi 13y ago

I used to be pissed off when more people moved to Austin. As a land owner I now get excited.

johnrob 13y ago

I often wonder if entrepreneurs will start to flee silicon valley for similar reasons. While we have the best assortment of resources in the valley, the competition for them is getting more intense by the day. It applies to everything - even rent prices. It may be easier to raise money here but the problem is that you need to spend a whole lot more too. Does the easier fundraising make up for the increased burn? I don't know. Burn is a very bad thing for a startup.

foohbarbaz 13y ago

Have a friend who lived in Texas for a while. Came back hating it. Said weather is pretty bad and there's no outdoors. The only thing going for outdoors is caving (normally we do hiking, mountaineering, climbing, kayaking, canyoneering, etc -- every adventure you could think of). What's good? "Well, if you like food, there are good restaurants". Pass.

akgerber 13y ago

In most coastal states, it's difficult to do greenfield development in high-income cities because of some combination of laws preserving open space (e.g. California) and because greenfields have basically been developed to the limit of sane commuting distance (e.g. NY/DC). Moreover, with the interstate system built to completion, there are no new public works projects brining new greenfields within commuting distance of major metros, as had happened with the implementation of horsecars, streetcars, interurbans, commuter railroads, and interstate highways. Many areas have seen brownfield development, but such land is relatively limited and expensive to remediate. At the same time, zoning laws make it difficult-to-impossible to build denser housing (even low- or mid-rise apartment buildings) to replace single-family homes on valuable land at any kind of scale. This means the population of most of the most-productive American metros has become essentially fixed, or stuck growing at a lower level than American population growth. Instead those with the most money are bidding up the limited population supply, and those with less money <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/06/13/243972/the-secret-to-texas-success-they-build-houses-there/>are http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/06/13/243972/the-secr... moving to Texas and other places where it's easy to build homes</a>. And Silicon Valley (and the Bay Area in general), <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/05/03/silicon_valley_housing_boom_there_s_no_such_thing.html>rather http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/05/03/silicon_valle... than building more housing during boomtimes</a>, is simply letting its housing prices increase to insane levels. Prop. 13, which insulates current homeowners from even having to pay higher property taxes on their ridiculously valuable homes, certainly doesn't help things.

api 13y ago

Big cities without the big city real estate hyperinflation is very, very appealing.

curt 13y ago

Texas is just plain run well. The state barely had a recession because they had common sense regulations that stop the housing from skyrocketing in the first place. It takes days not months or years to get building permits. Texas is a perfect example of how the country should be run as a whole.

conover 13y ago
I'm torn on the fire code thing (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/10/us/after-plant-explosion-texas-remains-wary-of-regulation.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/10/us/after-plant-explosion-t...). It's one thing to eschew regulation but fire codes?
tdees40 13y ago
Its resilience during the recession at least has something to do with oil. At least acknowledge that possibility.
- saryant 13y ago
  A large part of it is because Texas had extraordinarily strict lending standards, enacted after the oil bust of the 1980's. That, plus our already affordable housing, meant that Texas didn't have a property bubble burst in 2008.

iblaine 13y ago

An objective point here...if enough NY & CA residents moved to Texas to swing it to a blue state then the Republican party would be doomed.

karl_gluck 13y ago

While I agree with most of these as great reasons for moving to Austin, as a resident I'd caution those interested in moving here to not take them at face value. Come visit and consider what they're not telling you when making a decision: - It was cheap, but it's not staying cheap. The idea that 'Austin is cheap' has inspired a lot of people to start moving here recently, and the reality hasn't quite started to impede the hype. Reality? My rent has gone up 10%/yr each of the 4 years I've been here, and home values / rent prices across the area are still rising rapidly. A 640 sq ft. studio apartment that was $530/mo when I moved here now rents for $1050/mo, and I'm not even close to downtown. - Texas has no income tax, and house prices may seem to be good at first glance, but property taxes are VERY high. 2.7%-3.5%, and some areas are taxed by multiple entities. - If you can't find anything affordable close to work, prepare for a nightmare daily drive. Most people I work with have a 45- to 60-minute one-way commute. Austin rapidly outgrew its 2 highways, so "rush hour" is 7:45 AM - 10 AM, 3:45 PM - 7 PM every day, except Friday afternoon where it starts at 2:30 PM. - Even as someone with a good software job and no debt, I can't come close to affording a house within a 30 minute one-way commute of work that was built after 1960 given the recent price increases. - Austin is hot, so be ready for that. We set a record of 90 consecutive days of 100+ degree weather in 2011! - Despite all of the above, I do love living in Austin for its food, weather (I hate gray skies and winter), and culture. I worry about how long I'm going to be able to afford to stay... but for now it's a great place to be.

supercanuck 13y ago

I live in Los Angeles and commute to work on a weekly basis to Houston via Southwest. I would agree that there is more money to be made in Texas.

deleted 13y ago

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eli_gottlieb 13y ago

Apparently some people can always be trusted to rewrite their entire perception of social reality in abject worship of low real-estate prices.