Trading California for Texas.
By: Natt Stevenson
Tags: California, Housing Prices, Texas, Ca, Tx

It is a well-known fact that California

has some of

the highest

rent prices in the country.

Even with the effects of the pandemic lowering rental prices as much as 31% in cities like San Francisco, it is still leaving the rental prices higher than the national average.[1] Last year Experian.com reported that California had the highest “median rental rate” sitting at a whopping $2,542/month.[2] With my own family deciding to take the huge step and leave California it had be thinking how many other native or long time Californians are deciding to do the same?

We are a total family of six, me, my fiancé, and our four boys. We have two boys full time who are 2 and 4 and then my two stepsons part-time who are 11 and 12. While neither of us had jobs that were in tech or made us 100k+ a year we both always did make at least 5+ dollars over the state and county's minimum wages. Up until a military disability took my fiancé out of work completely, he was a union carpenter for several years. So, while we were not “rolling in the dough” we managed to get by…sometimes just barely.

Our last two rentals were both over the 1k mark, with one being a 2-bedroom 1-bath outdated and in need of a serious update apartment in Rio Vista, CA. Which cost us $1,295.23 with a double deposit due to our low credit scores. Making that a total move-in cost of $3,885.23! With limited options and children to think about we took it and swallowed the steep price. After a year of living there with multiple issues, we decided to move down to the southern part of the Central Valley to Visalia, CA. We moved into a 3-bedroom 2-bath apartment for $1,125.00 with again a double deposit making this grand total at $3,375.00. At this point, we are almost at a home loan down payment with how much we have spent on initial move-in costs alone, even with moving down to a “not so desirable” part of California it was still over 3k move costs.

So as we started our search for apartments and jobs to relocate to out of state two vary important factors came into play for us in why we choose Texas, rent was incredibly cheap especially since neither of us wanted to be in any of the big cities, second was we had several family members from my family that I was strongly connected to and would give us some sense of “home” and family. Another huge factor that swayed my fiancé was the fact that he is a United States Marine Corps veteran and there seems to be a higher level of respect and aide for those who have served their country in Texas. So, with our minds made up and the search to find our next rental with hopes that it will be our last as in Texas we actually have a real possibility of buying and owning our own home, it had me thinking how many other Californians are leaving? More specifically how many are leaving California for Texas?

So, the search is on! Which didn’t take long surprisingly, a quick search on Facebook brought up a group called

“Move to Texas From California!”… no secrets as to what this group is for! They have 22 thousand members within this group, also making it the largest Facebook group I found for those relocating from California to Texas. I did manage to find other similar groups such as “Move to Houston From California” but with the other group covering the entire state of Texas I went with that one. Once accepted into the group I found a wealth of information that was useful for our own upcoming move to Texas. Group consists of those who have already made the move from California to Texas and those in the planning phase of their move, such as us.

While this very question was one of the top discussion posts and questions asked in this group, I decided to reach out to a few of them and see why like us they have decided to move to Texas specifically. I wanted to know some challenges they faced in deciding to move and what their huge factor was in making that final decision to leave. While their reasoning for moving and their family sizes all varied they pretty much all agreed that moving back to California was not an option for them…well one person, Janea Washington who has a family of 5 including her fiancé and 3 kids said she would move back

“if I could buy a beach house and live there during the hot Texas summer months….”.

Now it was not only families looking to leave to provide a better quality of life for their children, it was individuals and adults also. Terri K, and her husband left California in March of this year citing the ability to retire and be closer to family, as a huge factor in why they choose Texas, comfortable retirement may not be possible for the average Californian. With their biggest obstacle in leaving was having to give up their Kaiser insurance sharing his opinion on Texas insurance.

“Insurance here is more expensive for a lower quality of service, in my opinion”.

Of course, like most when asked if they would ever move back to California, it was a solid “NO”.The biggest factor for those with families was a better quality of life, lower rent prices, and the cost of living. Many others citing a better work/life balance because as most Californians know a bigger, and a better house can mean constant work to maintain or obtain.

With some many leaving California this has no doubt caused a shortage in moving trucks putting a strain on not only those companies but the wallets of those trying to leave. Fee.org reported in the summer of this year that a 26ft U-Haul truck from Los Angeles, CA to Houston, TX can cost roughly $3,965 (includes 6 days of use and unlimited miles) along with costs of gas. However, that same route in return, Houston, TX to Los Angeles, CA would roughly cost you $967.[3]

These costs have no gone down either within the last year or with the pandemic,

as we were quoted from Visalia, CA to Byran, TX for a 16ft truck $2,850 from Budget Truck rentals and $3,110 from U-Haul.

Despite these high costs for one-way moving trucks, only one person I spoke to explicitly stated that logistics were their biggest hardship in navigating their move to Texas. The high costs of moving trucks is another hugely talked about topic in this group, even pushing some to travel to neighboring states such as Nevada and Arizona due to either a lack of inventory in California or mainly, like us due to the price.

Generally, on average a person from California can save $300-$1,200 renting a moving truck from either neighboring State and then driving it back to their home city in California, gas included.

And that is exactly what most people did with one gentleman saving $1,200 on his 26ft rental just but crossing into Nevada and picking up his truck in Las Vegas and driving it back to California.

I have yet to come across someone who truly hated and regretted moving to Texas, and I must admit this will not be my first time living in Texas just the first time I have truly prepared for the move and prepared to give it a real chance. Things people do say are huge perks are the extremely lower price in gas (under $2.00 in some places), no state income taxes which like rent California holds the highest state income tax at 13.3%.[4] Along with perks for veterans only seen in Texas and their general overall hospitality and friendliness. Of course, there is a great deal, especially within the Facebook group that has left California solely due to politics, no trade secret Texas is a huge Republican state with several former presidents living in Texas. However, with this being an election year and politics being one of two subject matters I just choose not to write/talk/respond to on my blog or social media, it is worth noting in this that a good majority within the Facebook group state and believe that “Democrats have ruined California and values of the country”, now these are not my believes but something worth noting as it plays a huge huge factor for so many.

Now with 12 days until our final move day and last day in California our biggest obstacle is logistics for us, moving trucks are beyond unreasonable expensive and moving companies are just about the same if not more and run a risk of not having our belongings at our new place in time. Which would not be a huge deal if it were just me and my fiancé but with having two kids under 5, having their stuff is a must for us. I have already decided and reserved a cargo trailer that we will pull with our SUV which choosing that option has greatly saved us on rental fees and gas costs for an additional vehicle but we are also picking it up in Fort Mohave Arizona which even then is still costing us $650.

The end goal is what is keeping us going and knowing that we can achieve a better work/life balance and become homeowners with a chance to retire and leave our children with something they can continue to create memories in.

[1] Hwang, Kellie. “S.F. Rent Prices Plunge as Much as 31% — Steepest Decline in U.S., New Report Says.” SFChronicle.com, San Francisco Chronicle, 13 Oct. 2020, www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/S-F-rent-prices-plunge-as-much-as-31-15644663.php. [2] Stolba, Stefan lembo. “California Leads Nation in Rent Costs.” Experian, Experian, 5 Nov. 2019, www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/research/median-rental-rates-for-an-apartment-by-state/. [3] Perry, Mark J. “U-Haul Rates Suggest Migration from California to Texas Is Accelerating: Mark J. Perry.” FEE Freeman Article, Foundation for Economic Education, 4 June 2019, fee.org/articles/u-haul-rates-suggest-migration-from-california-to-texas-is-accelerating/. [4] TurboTax — Taxes, Income Tax. “States with the Highest and Lowest Taxes.” TurboTax Tax Tips & Videos, 2019, turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/fun-facts/states-with-the-highest-and-lowest-taxes/L6HPAVqSF.