The Texas growth machine
What accounts for the resilience of the Texas economy, which has outperformed the rest of the country not only over the long term but during the Great Recession as well? A pro-business climate has unquestionably been a substantial advantage. In its annual ranking of business environments, Chief Executive has named Texas the most growth-friendly state for eight years in a row. (California has been last for the same eight years.) The reasons included low taxes and sensible regulations; a high-quality workforce (Texas ranked second only to Utah in that category in 2012); and a pleasant living environment (an eighth-place finish, slightly below sixth-place Florida but, perhaps surprisingly, far better than 28th-place California).
Part of the explanation for the high living-environment score is doubtless Texas’s low cost of living. In 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis put Texas’s “regional price parity,” a measurement of the price level of goods in an area, at 97.1, a bit lower than the national level of 100 and far lower than the California level of 114.8. Adjusted for cost of living, Texas’s per-capita income is higher than California’s and nearly as high as New York’s. Factor in state and local taxes, and Texas pulls ahead of New York.
More than three-quarters of the cost-of-living difference between Texas and California can be explained by housing costs. As Figure Six shows, Texas mostly dodged the real-estate bubble of the 2000s: the affordability of houses in large metro areas spiked in America as a whole but rose only modestly in Texas.
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Texas just happens “magically” … ask Willard ’bout that – it’s not due to ANYTHING that Rick Perry has done as governor for … erm, what? 13 or more years now? Oh noes … Rick Perry is a socialist illegal immigrant lover and anything that happens in Texas is not due to Rick Perry … but things the establishment GOP does there or something.
LOL
HondaV65 on February 11, 2013 at 9:46 AM
Living in Texas is about the only thing that blunts the pain of living under an Obama reign.
Marcus on February 11, 2013 at 9:51 AM
There’s been articles in the Dallas Morning News lately detailing the recent moves by State Farm insurance to lease over a million square feet of office space in Richardson, plus they are planning to have at that much more space built (build-to-suit lease), possibly to move thousands of their employees from Illinois.
Ward Cleaver on February 11, 2013 at 9:51 AM
And this is precisely why static tax analysis is worth exactly nothing when debating raising tax rates. Assuming people won’t modify their behavior is unbelievably stupid.
Washington Nearsider on February 11, 2013 at 9:57 AM
Gee what could cause such growth in Texas.
Oh – I know – “they are stealing jobs from other states”
They are “stealing jobs”
So says the left.
jake-the-goose on February 11, 2013 at 9:57 AM
Ward Cleaver on February 11, 2013 at 9:51 AM
When we arrived-Wow. Almost 2 years ago-the joke was that so many Illinoisans were escaping to Texas…that every decent-sized Texas town/city was going to have their own little ‘Illinoisville’. LoL
annoyinglittletwerp on February 11, 2013 at 9:59 AM
No state income tax. A business friendly climate. Housing prices are stable. A state surplus. And we’re not afraid to utilize our fossil fuel resources. Gee, who woulda thought that would work out for us down here?
Doughboy on February 11, 2013 at 10:10 AM
If this country (and the GOP electorate) had any sense, Rick Perry would be POTUS right now, pain meds be damned.
DRayRaven on February 11, 2013 at 10:14 AM
Just pray that the Liberal employees stay in IL. TX doesn’t want or need them.
Charlemagne on February 11, 2013 at 10:15 AM
Ain’t federalism grand? Now, if we could only get the states to tell the Feds to go to He!! over Obamacare and the EPA.
Charlemagne on February 11, 2013 at 10:16 AM
Yet more propaganda put out by the Southern Baptist Taliban with their Theocratic Christianist vision.
CorporatePiggy on February 11, 2013 at 10:18 AM
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told by lefties that all of the Texas jobs are minimum wage. The thing is, they don’t even care about jobs. They are all about transforming America, no matter the cost.
juliesa on February 11, 2013 at 10:23 AM
Not to worry. All those liberals that are abandoning the mess they’ve made of other states to move to Texas will fix all those social problems for ya’ in short order. You just need the right kind of voters. Liberals are like a plague of locusts. They destroy one area, render it uninhabitable then move on to greener pastures and repeat the process.
Oldnuke on February 11, 2013 at 10:23 AM
OT, but a lot of folks in the Metroplex are going to the Chris Kyle memorial today. I’d like to go if I were in the area.
juliesa on February 11, 2013 at 10:26 AM
A big chunk of the population of Houston are Illinois transplants or their descendents. It is pretty blue with quite a bit of voter fraud so I guess that qualifies as “Illinoisville.”
Odysseus on February 11, 2013 at 10:27 AM
SHHH! Bury this article! We Texans do NOT need a bunch more liberals moving here from California and New York, messing things up!
michaelo on February 11, 2013 at 10:48 AM
I read a few days ago, Perry is headed to CA again to try and get businesses to move here. That should get old brown bent out of shape again?
It would be great if Perry would make a statement, ‘Here in the US we are able to go freely to other states, getting businesses to a friendly state to grow, and brown is welcome to come to TX to do the same’! Wonder how many businesses would move from TX to CA?
L
letget on February 11, 2013 at 11:01 AM
I submit Massachusetts and New Hampshire to bolster your point.
rhombus on February 11, 2013 at 11:04 AM
Notice the stats they leave out. Texas has an employment rate tied with the national average. The growth just shows how low they were in comparison to the rest of the country pre-2008. The state also has, by far, the most amount of workers being paid an unlivable minimum wage. So has Texas added jobs? Yes. But it’s the working poor industry that’s booming. Very few are getting careers their families can live off of.
Rainsford on February 11, 2013 at 11:23 AM
Right on cue:
Lefties are so predictable. Tell you what, Rainsford. Keep telling all your friends that Texas doesn’t have any good jobs. Keeping people like you out is a positive thing for Texas.
Vera on February 11, 2013 at 11:36 AM
What are you talking about. The unemployment rate for Texas is 6.1 percent, the national average is 7.9%. Why do you have to lie?
http://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm
MoreLiberty on February 11, 2013 at 11:47 AM
What is the col in Texas? What is it in Ill? I bet ya could live better on min wage in Texas than you could anywhere in Ill.
Funny because I was thinking a while ago, and still do if I lose my job, moving to KY from WI. Wife’s aunt moved there from Ill of all places …. told us that the pay is no where to what we are used to..like 8-9 bucks was a normal starting wage… and we said yikes!
She then went on to tell us you could rent a 3 bed room, 2 story house on 2 acres of land for 600-700 bucks. I almost dropped the phone. For that money here, we be lucky to rent a one bedroom apartment in the ghetto.
My point is, sure they may get paid less, but you can most likely live cheaper too. Also, illegals do not help bring wages up either you liberal hack.
watertown on February 11, 2013 at 11:49 AM
Poppycock. First, minimum wage isn’t “unlivable” in TX. Second, the reason for all those low wage jobs is because other people are living pretty handily and can pay people to do those minimum wage things.
GWB on February 11, 2013 at 11:55 AM
Don’t forget all the heavily armed Bible-thumping rednecks, and the giant spiders!
Rebar on February 11, 2013 at 12:13 PM
Too late. Ever hear of Austin?
TX-eye on February 11, 2013 at 12:38 PM