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I moved from Texas to California — here’s what I learned about housing

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America is running a real-time experiment in politics and prosperity, and California and Texas are the laboratories.

As one of the few people who actually moved from Texas to California, I’ve had a front-row seat to both.

We won’t know for another decade which model ultimately produces better results, but we can compare the facts and numbers today.

People vote at the ballot box every two years. They vote with their feet every day.

Both states have seen major shifts in population, but in opposite directions. In California, almost 1.3 million people have left the state in the last six years, the highest rate in the country.

Meanwhile, Texas grew by 2.6 million residents between 2020 and 2025, giving it the largest population increase of any state in the nation. This could be due to a variety of factors, but the numbers suggest that many Americans, and the companies they work for, view Texas as a better source of economic opportunity and affordability. 

For the average Joe, Texas is also becoming more appealing than California. The California Dream used to be that the Golden State was affordable for all. But now, too many families are moving because that dream is unattainable.

Homeownership is becoming impossible for many middle-income Californians. When a teacher, police officer, nurse or firefighter can’t afford to buy a home in the communities they serve, that’s not a housing problem. That’s a governing problem.

There’s no doubt that California is an economic powerhouse and still sets the pace for innovation globally. The state employs over 1.5........

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