The best spot for millennials to find opportunity is the Lone Star State.
New data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that five of the country’s 11 fastest-growing cities are found in Texas.
Georgetown, Texas was the fastest-growing city in America between July 2014 and July 2015, growing by 7.8 percent. Second was New Braunfels at 6.6 percent. Frisco, Pearland, and Pflugerville all made the top 11 spots. The cities are suburbs of Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.
Numerically, Texas had five cities of the top eight that added the most people: Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth, and Dallas.
In recent years, Austin, Fort Worth, and San Antonio have been booming among major metropolitan areas. Austin grew by 15 percent, Fort Worth by 10 percent, and San Antonio by 8 percent between 2010 and 2014.
The west did well overall, as cities in California, Utah, Colorado, and Arizona comprised 11 of the 15 fastest-growing cities. No other state can compare to the economic and population growth of Texas, though.
That’s a golden opportunity for millennials. Burdened by student loan debt, but otherwise flexible, chasing economic growth could set them up for a better life in the future.
In the last decade, Texas has grown in population by 20 percent. Though its economic growth has slowed, its unemployment rate “has been at or below the national rate for 110 consecutive months,” and Texas gross state product in 2015 was $1.6 trillion. A decade ago, it was $1.2 trillion, a 25 percent increase.
The Texas economy is larger than Canada’s, but smaller than Brazil’s.
All that is to say: millennials who can’t find an economic foothold should move to Texas.
Cheap living, low rent, and an abundance of jobs make the state an appealing opportunity for the economic malaise of the Midwest or the high cost of coastal cities. Not to mention low taxes that let Texans keep more of their incomes.
Much of the economic growth has been driven by the shale revolution; though oil and gas prices have slipped, it’s not likely to drive the state into a recession.
