As the saying goes, they weren't born here but they got here as fast as they could. Texas remains the number one moving destination in the country, according to U-Haul's annual growth index, which ranks the 50 states based on one-way truck rentals. Texas, Florida, the Carolinas and Virginia were the top five states for in-bound truck rentals in 2022. At the other end of the list, deep blue Illinois and California were 49th and 50th.
Chuck DeVore, writer and commentator with the Texas Public Policy Foundation (and a California-to-Texas transplant), has followed this trend of red state-to-blue state migration for years, but he believes COVID pandemic policies have accelerated it. "I think the new thing in recent years is people just don't like it when the heavy hand of government tells you that you can't work, or you can't have your kids go to school, or you've got to mask up wherever you go," he tells KTRH.
Texas recently joined California as the only states to top 30 million in population, but contrary to previous predictions all of these transplants have not been turning the state blue. That was further demonstrated in last year's elections, where Republicans expanded their majorities and won by wider margins in all statewide races. "Overall, I think that philosophically and ideologically, Texas is benefiting from a more conservative in-migration," says DeVore. "And I think in the years ahead, this trend is gonna cause the blue states to get bluer and the red states to get a little redder."
DeVore is also amused that California continues to ban official state travel to 23 red states---including Texas---deemed to have 'harmful' policies. "Of the fastest growing states in the country, 9 of the top 10 are on California's banned list," he says. "So it's like gee, if those places are so evil and terrible, why is it everybody in the country is moving there?"