As Americans flock to the Lone Star State in Texas, the population of one city has increased by 184 percent in the past three years.
Earlier this week it was announced that eight of the ten fastest growing cities in the US are in Texas.
That was underscored by billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s announcement that he would be moving his company’s headquarters by California Unpleasant Texas.
One city that has seen an interesting resurgence is Weston, where the Census Bureau estimates that its population grew 184 percent from 2020.
The town, founded in 1842 and incorporated in 1873, is still small, with a population of just 816 people. Still, that’s a huge increase from the mere 287 who lived in the Collin County town in 2020.
A small church in the town of Weston, Texas, where the population has grown dramatically
The city proud refers to itself as “the oldest town in Collin County,” as it is nearly 200 years old.
The town is located about eight miles east of Celina, which may explain why it is such a popular destination.
Celina, Texas grew 53 times faster than the rest of the country, the US Census announced, earning it the title of fastest growing city.
The city, about an hour north of Dallas, grew 26.6%, while the national growth rate is 0.5%.
Celina, pronounced Sa-lina by locals, has almost tripled in size in the past three years.
In 2020, it was just a rural town of 17,800 people outside Dallas, but three years later its population had grown to 43,300.
According to the U.S. Census, Celina is not the only city in the Lone Star State that is on the list of fastest growing cities.
Eight of the ten fastest growing cities in the U.S. are in Texas, with most of them in the Dallas area. Newcomers are helping to turn suburbs like Princeton, Anna, Prosper and Forney into booming cities.
These data are consistent with predictions that Texas cities will overtake New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
By 2100, “everything will be bigger in Texas,” with the state expected to have a population of as many as 96 million.
Dallas will replace New York City as the nation’s largest city, while Houston will overtake Los Angeles and Austin will displace Chicago.
Although Celina is part of the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area, the neighborhood scores high for safety, with 9 in 10 residents rating the neighborhood as excellent or good for safety.
It was also rated 64% safer than the rest of the country by Buurtscout.com.
Home builders are building breathtaking McMansions for a fraction of the price you would pay if you were to buy a similar home anywhere else in the country.
While Celina is also home to a number of mini-castles, the average home price here is around $340,000.
“It’s still a great price to get into a city in the (Dallas-Fort Worth) Metroplex,” said real estate agent Tiffany Caballero in an online tour of Celina.
‘And it’s the median strip, and underneath it there are also a lot of houses.’
Celina is considered a rural area, the seller of the house explained. Anyone moving there should take that into account, he added. The only high school in town, he said, is a top school.
Currently under contract and last listed for $3,795,000, this 6-bedroom, 7-bathroom home in Celina, Texas is 6,800 square feet. It was built this year and features a pool, spa, and five-car garage
‘Everyone supports the Bobcats and wears orange and black like it’s Friday night lights‘, Caballero said, referring to the film about football culture in a small Texas town.
“But that’s because there’s only one high school. Everyone is super community-oriented and involved.”
Celina’s population is expected to rise to 350,000, meaning more schools will definitely be built as more families move in.
Virtually every city in Texas has seen tremendous growth in recent years. This is largely due to the fact that the cost of living is relatively lower than in many other states. However, for many native and permanent residents, the cost of living has increased significantly. They feel left out of the prices in their own state.
Texans also pay no state income tax.
The job market is also incredibly healthy, as the state ranks third in the country in CNBC’s Top States for Business Rankings in 2024.
This news isn’t exactly new, as it was revealed by aabout 300 Californians moved to Texas every day in 2021 – a whopping 111,000 people, recently released data shows.
One such Californian was Elon Musk, who announced he was moving both SpaceX and X headquarters to the Lone Star State due to the state’s liberal gender identity laws on July 16.
Elon Musk has announced that he is moving both SpaceX and X headquarters to Texas due to California’s new gender identity laws
He said Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signing of a law banning California school districts from notifying parents if their child is transgender was “the last straw.”
However, Edward Niedermeyer, author of Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors, believes Musk’s decision stems from business motives.
“I think Musk has made the calculation that he’s gotten all the benefits he can probably get out of the state and he’s moving on to the next state,” Niedermeyer said. The Los Angeles Times.
In February, Musk moved the incorporation of his aerospace company Space X from Delaware to Texas after a Delaware judge ruled that the compensation package Tesla received was seriously flawed and required him to repay the package.
Musk has already moved Tesla’s headquarters from Palo Alto, California, to Austin after Alameda County officials refused to let him reopen the factory due to coronavirus restrictions, despite Newsom announcing that manufacturers would be allowed to restart operations.
The billionaire even moved to the Lone Star State in 2020 after living in California for 20 years. He is even in the process of moving SpaceX to Texas after speaking out against California’s liberal policies.
He opposed the use of preferred pronouns and often mocked the practice on social media, calling it part of a “woke” agenda that is dangerous to society.
Critics criticized Musk for moving his companies, saying they deserved his business because they had been funded by taxpayers for years and had benefited him.
‘California, through tax credits, [electric vehicle] “The grants and scholarships have made Elon successful,” Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, president of the California Labor Federation, told The Times.
“That amounts to hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars that he is constantly spitting in the faces of California workers and taxpayers.”