Thousands of Americans dumped major metropolitan areas, including New York and San Francisco, during the pandemic for more affordable states like Texas – where Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other Silicon Valley big wigs have recently relocated.
The COVID-19 outbreak is fueling what some experts call a massive exodus of people from some of the largest tech and financial centers in the country, who have now set their sights on areas with lower taxes and less government regulation.
Musk, 49, announced last week that he had moved to Lone Star State, months after criticizing California officials for their strict coronavirus restrictions.
He was soon joined by technology giant Oracle Corp, which said Friday it would move its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Austin and let employees choose their office locations and decide whether to work from home.
Austin was ranked first of the ten cities where the most people moved between April and October 2020
Meanwhile, Hartford, Connecticut’s capital, saw the greatest outflow of people during that period
But new data has shown that not only are the wealthy participating in the migration to smaller and cheaper regions, but so are the average working Americans.
A recent report from LinkedIn analyzed the areas that saw an influx of newcomers, as well as the regions that lost the most residents, between April and October 2020.
Austin was number one in a list of ten cities – most of which are to the south – where most people moved during that period.
For every person who left the capital of Texas, 1.53 people moved in, according to the data.
Phoenix took second place for the most popular destination, followed by Nashville, Tampa, Jacksonville, Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Charleston, and Seattle.
Meanwhile, Hartford, Connecticut’s capital, saw the greatest outflow of people during that period.
New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area – large, vibrant metropolitan areas with thriving tech and financial companies – were in second and third place respectively.
Billionaire Tesla founder Elon Musk, 49, announced last week that he had moved to the Lone Star State, months after criticizing California state officials for their strict coronavirus restrictions
Co-tech giant Oracle Corp said Friday it would move its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Austin, letting employees choose their office locations and decide whether to work from home.
According to data from the Council for Community and Economic Research, the cost of living played a major factor in where people decided to move, Bloomberg reported
It showed a trend of people leaving expensive, urban cities – most of which are in democratic states – and flocking to smaller towns in the south.
Billionaire Elon Musk’s move to Austin follows podcast host Joe Rogan, who revealed in August that he would move to the Texas capital to “ have a little more freedom. ”
Their move means they have joined the 687,000 Californians who have moved to Texas in the past ten years.
Data from the U.S. Census Bureau from 2010 to 2019 found that California transplants make up about 13 percent of the entire population that has moved to the state since the beginning of the decade.
During his announcement, Musk justified the move by saying he needed to be closer to two of his biggest projects: the development of rockets by his company SpaceX in the southern part of the state, and the construction of a Tesla auto plant near Austin.
Billionaire Elon Musk’s move to Austin follows podcast host Joe Rogan (pictured) who revealed in August that he would move to the Texas capital to ‘have a little more freedom’
Texas has long catered to expensive California relocation businesses.
The state is one of the few in the country that offers a lower cost of living and no state income tax, both of which can appeal to businesses as well as working millennials.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott took to Twitter last week to brag about Oracle’s decision.
“Oracle just announced that they have moved their headquarters to Austin,” Abbott tweeted Friday.
Texas is truly the land of business, jobs and opportunity. We will continue to attract the very best, ”he added.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise has said it is moving its global headquarters from California to Texas. The company is building a 440,000 square meter campus in two five-story buildings, according to the architect’s drawing. It is scheduled for completion in 2022
The migration to Texas is also because technology companies have allowed workers to do their jobs remotely due to the pandemic to embrace the practice, allowing them to hire people who live far from offices and leave companies less tied to Silicon Valley campuses.
“We believe these moves best position Oracle for growth and give our staff more flexibility about where and how they work,” the company said in a regulatory filing.
It also said it would keep major hubs in its current home in Redwood City, California and other locations.
In its most recent fiscal year, which ended May 31, Oracle reported profit of $ 10.1 billion on revenue of approximately $ 39 billion. The company was founded in 1977 in Santa Clara, California and employed approximately 135,000 people as of May 31.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise, one of the first Silicon Valley companies, said earlier this month that it would move to the Houston area and build a two-story, five-story campus by 2022.
In 2018, Toyota relocated its US headquarters from Southern California to Plano, Texas, a suburb of Dallas.