Harris County Records Largest Number Of New Out-Of-State Residents In Texas

Houston’s Harris County received the largest number of out-of-state residents moving to Texas of any single county in 2018, according to the latest relocation report from Texas Realtors.

The report, which analyzes migration data from the U.S. Census Bureau and U-Haul, found that Harris County recorded a net gain of 80,752 residents relocating from out of state in 2018. Harris County also received the largest inflow of residents from other Texas counties and from outside the U.S.

The state's most populous county also took first place for the number of people moving away, either to other counties in the state or leaving Texas altogether.

At the metropolitan statistical area level, the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area recorded the highest number of incoming residents from out of state, at 200,966. In second place, the wider Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area welcomed 176,110 people in 2018.

Four of the top 10 counties with the highest net gain of out-of-state residents were in North Texas: Dallas, Tarrant, Collin and Denton counties. In addition, three of the top 10 counties — Travis, Williamson and Bell — were located in Central Texas.

Overall, Texas ranked second in the U.S. for relocation activity in 2018, recording 563,945 new residents — an increase of 7.5% from the prior year. The net gain of out-of-state residents in Texas nearly doubled, from 57,173 in 2017 to 101,805 residents in 2018.

The highest number of people relocated to Texas from California, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma and New York, in that order. Notably, the number of people who relocated from California to Texas in 2018 increased by a whopping 36.4% year-over-year.

Texas also welcomed 201,559 new residents from outside the U.S. in 2018.

Texas ranked third in the U.S. for the number of residents moving out with 462,140 choosing to relocate in 2018. The most popular destinations were California, Oklahoma, Colorado, Florida and Louisiana.