In a recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, it was revealed that Texas leads all U.S. states in the net number of jobs gained through business relocation. Conversely, California ranks last in this measure.
The Lone Star State welcomed more than 25,000 businesses from other states between 2010 and 2019, while losing only about 18,000, which resulted in more than 100,000 additional jobs. California, on the other hand, lost closer to a net 150,000 jobs due to business relocation in the same period, making it the largest net exporter of jobs. More than 44,000 of those jobs went to Texas specifically, which sent fewer than 15,000 jobs to California, leaving a net gain for Texas of 29,700 jobs from the Golden State.
Texas gets more jobs from California than any other state.
Federal Reserve Bank of DallasIn other words, 16 percent of the jobs Texas gained during those years came from California, more than any other state.
Though the study covers a pre-pandemic period that seems like a distant memory at this point, it shows that long before Gov. Greg Abbott was telling Gov. Gavin Newsom to "focus on all the jobs and businesses that are leaving California and coming to Texas" in response to the Golden State leader's reelection campaign putting up billboards in Texas skewering the state's abortion laws, the economic (and political) rivalry between the two states was well underway.
Texas leaders have long touted the state's business-friendly climate, and that distinction has mostly remained intact since the period measured by the Dallas Fed's survey (though very recently the state's infrastructure and health care policies have made a dent in its reputation). In 2022, for example, Texas topped California and New York for being home to the most Fortune 500 companies for the first time. It then happened again in 2023.