More Than 600,000 People Move to Texas Every Year. Here's the Why

On my channel: Moving to San Antonio TX? Why Families Are Relocating to San Antonio TX

The headline number

The Census Bureau recorded about 612,000 people moving into Texas during the 2023 to 2024 period, against roughly 478,000 leaving, a net domestic gain of about 133,000. USAFacts' own estimate for the same period came in at about 556,000 arrivals, and every major tracker agrees on the conclusion: Texas consistently leads all 50 states in net domestic migration, and has for years. In IRS tax-return data, Texas also topped the country in net filer gains in the most recent reported years.

Where they come from, and why

The most recent Census data puts California, Florida, and New York as the top three origin states for Texas arrivals, a list that shows up in IRS filings too, with California sending the most households by a wide margin. The reasons are the ones you hear in every moving conversation: no state income tax, a substantially lower cost of housing for the same size home, job growth, and family ties. California to Texas remains the single most common long-distance move in the country, and I work with families making it every month.

What San Antonio specifically attracts

The San Antonio New Braunfels metro added roughly 205,000 residents from April 2020 through July 2024, with about 59% of that growth from domestic migration, and added about 38,000 more people in the 2024 to 2025 stretch. Military relocations to Joint Base San Antonio are a constant inflow, and affordability keeps pulling families who find coastal prices out of reach. The Hill Country towns, Boerne, New Braunfels, and the fast-growing northeast suburbs get a meaningful share of that growth.

What the inflow means for housing

Sustained demand is why builders keep opening communities and why the market keeps firming: SABOR's July 2026 report showed a median home price of $315,000, up about 5% year over year, with six months of inventory keeping the pace calm. New construction in Schertz, Cibolo, New Braunfels, and the Boerne area is absorbing a large share of the newcomers. For buyers, the practical effect is a steady market with real choices, and for sellers, a dependable pool of relocating buyers, many arriving with cash from higher-cost states.

If you are the family moving

You have more company than you might think, and the process is well-trodden. The pattern that works: a video consultation to shortlist two or three communities, a pre-approval from a Texas lender, and one focused house-hunting trip timed to the arrival date. Buying from out of state is completely normal here now, and the title and closing system is built for it. The families who move smoothly are the ones who decide the corridor first and let the listings follow.

The honest caveat

Growth is a tide that lifts and complicates. The same inflow that keeps prices firm also fills the roads, and some corridors that felt rural a decade ago feel suburban now. The honest advice I give every relocating family is to choose a community because it fits your lifestyle, commute, and schools, not because it is the popular one on social media. The right fit ages well; the bandwagon rarely does.