Moving from California to Dallas: Why North Texas is Where Californians Stay
California has led the country in out-migration for more than half a decade. U-Haul’s Growth Index has ranked it last among all fifty states for six consecutive years, while Texas returned to the top spot in the 2025 report. According to StorageCafe’s analysis of Census data, roughly 100,000 Californians move to Texas each year. The more telling shift is where they settle, and how long they plan to stay.
Why Californians Are Moving to Dallas-Fort Worth
Early waves of California relocation often favored Austin, with its tech scene and familiar West Coast sensibility. North Texas has since become the region where moves turn permanent. U-Haul named Dallas the country’s top growth metro for 2025, and the Dallas-Fort Worth area is home to more than 8.4 million people. A metro of that size offers the depth of employment, schools, healthcare, and culture that lets a household put down roots rather than treat a move as a trial run.
Corporate Headquarters and Financial Growth in North Texas
Much of that permanence is anchored by business. CBRE counted 100 corporate headquarters relocations to DFW between 2018 and 2024, more than any other U.S. metro and well ahead of Austin’s 81. Several came from California: McKesson moved from San Francisco to Irving, Charles Schwab to Westlake, and AECOM and CBRE to Dallas. Finance has followed, with Goldman Sachs building a 5,000-person Dallas campus and the Texas Stock Exchange opening for trading from its Dallas headquarters in July 2026.
Texas Taxes and Cost of Living Compared to California
Texas levies no state income tax, compared with a top marginal rate of 13.3 percent in California. For executives, business owners and households with significant investment income, that difference compounds every year. Property taxes in Texas run higher and are worth weighing, but for most relocating buyers the absence of an income tax shifts the overall math considerably. Space is the other half of the equation: a budget that secures a modest residence in Los Angeles or the Bay Area can buy a larger, newer home in Dallas, often with services and amenities that are hard to find on the coast.
Culture and Walkability in Dallas
Californians who assume a move to Texas means trading away culture tend to revise that view in the Dallas Arts District. At 118 acres, it is the largest contiguous urban arts district in the country and holds more buildings by Pritzker Prize-winning architects than anywhere else in the world. The Dallas Museum of Art, Nasher Sculpture Center, Winspear Opera House, Wyly Theatre and Meyerson Symphony Center sit within a short walk of one another, with Klyde Warren Park linking the district to Uptown.
USA Today named it the best arts district in America in both 2024 and 2025.
Flights from Dallas to Los Angeles and San Francisco
For Californians who keep family, business or a second home on the coast, connectivity matters. DFW International Airport ranks among the busiest airports in the world and is the main hub for American Airlines, with frequent nonstop service to Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego in roughly three to four hours. Dallas Love Field, home base for Southwest Airlines, sits minutes from downtown. The Central time zone also makes it easy to work across both coasts in a single day.
Luxury Condos in the Dallas Arts District
For many relocating buyers, the last question is where in North Texas to land. Those who loved the walkability of Santa Monica, Pacific Heights or La Jolla often find the closest match in the Arts District, where most of daily life happens on foot. HALL Arts Residences sits at the center of it, at 1747 Leonard Street. The 28-story tower was the first multifamily high-rise in Texas to earn both LEED Gold and WELL Gold certification. Interiors by Emily Summers feature Bulthaup kitchens, Gaggenau appliances and Dornbracht fittings. Residents share a 17,000-square-foot amenity level with a private wine room, along with 24/7 concierge and valet. ASTRA Kitchen + Lounge is an elevator ride away at the HALL Arts Hotel.
In October 2026, HALL Arts Residences unveiled its newest home, the Sky Terrace Penthouse, on the 28th floor. For Californians used to indoor-outdoor living, it will feel familiar. The two-bedroom residence offers about 5,130 square feet of interior space with soaring ceilings. Its rooms open onto a 2,330-square-foot private rooftop terrace with a pool, an outdoor kitchen and a trellis-shaded seating area. Views stretch across the Dallas skyline and the Arts District below. The home was designed by Abeyta Architecture Studio, with landscape architecture by Hocker. Remaining homes also include the Masterpiece Collection on floors 20 through 25.
Planning your move from California? Schedule a private tour of HALL Arts Residences and the Sky Terrace Penthouse here.