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More Texans Than Californians Moving to Austin, Report Shows
Austin ranks No. 1 for new movers in 2025, with nearly 1 in 4 arriving from Texas metros, led by Houston and Dallas.
Published February 16, 2026 at 11:00am by Chaya Tong
Austin is the top U.S. metro for the largest increase in new movers in 2025, according to a recent Bank of America Institute report, and much of that growth is coming from within Texas.
While Austin once functioned largely as a landing spot for tech workers from California and the West Coast, the January report found that nearly one in four of Austin's new residents came from other major Texas metros, including Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. Another third came from elsewhere in the South, with notable inflows from Miami and Washington, D.C., and roughly a quarter arrived from Western cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco/San Jose and Seattle.
“Fewer Americans are packing up each year, yet when they do move, they overwhelmingly stay in their home region,” the study said. “The big story isn’t a national reshuffle — it’s people trading one nearby city for another that fits their budget and lifestyle a little better.”
While Austin saw net population growth, it ranked fourth in year-over-year percentage growth in the fourth quarter of 2025, trailing several smaller Midwest metros. Its inbound and outbound migration patterns were strikingly similar. In other words, many of the same cities sending residents to Austin are also receiving people from Austin.
The study listed Dallas, Houston and San Antonio as top destinations for Austinites to move to. Of Austin residents who moved out of the capital city in 2025, 9% moved to Dallas, 7% moved to Houston and 5% moved to San Antonio.