The Texas/California pipeline works both ways, a new study reveals. Photo via Getty Images

Texans love to joke about how many Californians are moving here, but a rising trend in Texas residents' relocation habits may have Californians saying the same thing about Texans soon.

A new U.S. Census report analyzing state-to-state migration has revealed new estimates regarding Texas' growing population in 2022. According to the report, more than 668,000 new residents relocated to Texas from out-of-state last year.

Not surprisingly, the highest number of new Texans hailed from California. More than 102,000 Californians made the move to the Lone Star State in 2022.

But in a fun population twist, California also received the most Texpats in 2022, the report showed, followed closely behind by Florida, then Oklahoma. Of the 494,077 people who left Texas last year, 42,279 went to California.

Why Californians move to Texas
Californians often seek out a lower cost of living by moving to the most "affordable" cities in the state. Houston has shown to be at the top of the priority destination list; Dallas usurped Austin as the No. 1 city for California movers earlier this year. And when a California transplant can save more than $646,000 by moving to Texas and buying a home in Houston, it's not hard to see the appeal

Other reasons for the California-to-Texas exodus include the lack of income tax and the flexibility of remote work opportunities, they say.

While California took the lead with the most new movers flocking to Texas, Floridians are also choosing to pack up and leave their Sunshine State for the Lone Star State, the report says.

The top 5 states with the most residents moving to Texas in 2022 were:

  • California – 102,442 new residents
  • Florida – 41,747 new residents
  • New York – 30,890 new residents
  • Illinois – 25,272 new residents
  • Louisiana – 25,192 new residents

Where Texans are moving
The Census report showed that less than half a million Texas residents relocated out-of-state last year, totaling 494,077 people.

"Texas had the country's lowest (11.7 percent) outmigration rate, with most of those who did move relocating to California (42,479) or Florida (38,207)," the report said.

The top five states where Texans moved in 2022 were:

  • California – 42,279 Texans
  • Florida – 38,207 Texans
  • Oklahoma – 26,440 Texans
  • Colorado – 25,466 Texans
  • Georgia – 23,754 Texans

New Texans from abroad
In addition to state-by-state migration data, the report also provided estimates for how many new Texans came from abroad. Out of 237,051 new residents, the majority – 233,751 people – relocated from outside the mainland last year.

About 2,441 people moved from Puerto Rico, and 859 arrived from unspecified U.S. island areas.

Texas has been a magnet for international homebuyers for several years. The state has held its position as the third hottest U.S. housing market for international homebuyers for the fourth consecutive year in 2023. A total of 9,900 Texas homes were purchased by buyers from outside the U.S last year, spending a gigantic sum of $4.3 billion.

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

These could all be Californians for all we know. Photo via Local.AllState.com

Californians moving to Houston can save up to $646,000, study finds

money moves

Does it seem that Californians really are everywhere here in Houston? Here's why: A report by online storage finding platform StorageCafe has revealed just how much money the average Californian saves by taking on the title of transplant and relocating to the Lone Star State.

And more people from Los Angeles and Contra Costa counties are choosing Houston over any other area in Texas.

The migration report, which was released this summer by StorageCafe, states about 111,000 people moved to Texas from the Golden State in 2021, while only 33,000 Texans made the opposite move to California that same year.

The reasons why so many are flocking to Texas seem obvious: the lack of income tax, a lower cost of living, and the rise of remote work flexibility. These factors proved to be vastly important for millennials, who made up a majority of the transplants (46 percent).

Californians looking for a permanent Texas home can save hundreds of thousands of dollars by turning to Houston's booming housing market, where median home prices cost about $403,490.

With homes in San Diego ringing up for nearly $870,000, transplants can save $466,278 by buying a house in Houston. The Californians that save the most money on a new house hail from Orange County, where median prices cost over a million dollars. They can save $646,510 by purchasing a Houston home.

Renting an apartment in Houston is another financially advantageous move for California transplants, and will get them a larger space than what they can find in their home state. Rent prices in major California cities like San Diego and Los Angeles easily cost more than $2,600 a month, which is a far cry from Houston's median rent price of $1,336 per month.

Even for that amount of money, renters relocating to Houston from Orange, Los Angeles, and San Diego counties can easily find apartments that are over 500 square feet bigger.

StorageCafe's sister site Yardi Matrix's business intelligence manager Doug Ressler gave his thoughts in the report about the major factors that keep motivating Californians to make that move to Texas.

"Inflation continues to be a major concern, putting a financial strain on many people as they spend more of their income on typical expenses," he said. "As a result, moving to places that are easier on the wallet seems like the obvious solution, with many people crossing city and state lines to find a more suitable place to live."

The trend is not likely to slow down anytime soon, either.

"Over the first two decades of the 21st century, the movement of people leaving California for Texas has been well established," Ressler said. "No other state has sent more migrants to Texas than California during this time. The continual soaring housing prices and cost of living in California and much greater affordability in Texas is likely to sustain the significant flows of Californians toward Texas in the coming decades."

The study's findings were determined using census data between 2017 and 2021 from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) Survey Documentation and Analysis (SDA) tool. Home pricing information was found using data from real estate platform Point2.

The full study can be found on storagecafe.com.

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

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10+ can't-miss Houston business and innovation events for December

WHERE TO BE

From networking meetups to holiday parties, December is lined with opportunities for Houston innovators.

Here's a roundup of events you won't want to miss out on so mark your calendars and register accordingly.

Note: This post might be updated to add more events.

December 4 — Pumps & Pipes Annual Event 2023

This innovation gathering brings together cross-industry leaders for engaging discussions and top tier networking opportunities. Check out panels and listen to speakers discuss everything from generative AI technology to sustainability projects that are currently underway in Houston. Price of admission is $50.

This event is Monday, December 4, from 8 am to 5 pm, at the Ion. Click here to register.

December 5 — Jingle Mingle - a Houston Tech eXtravaganza

Jingle Mingle - a Houston Tech eXtravaganza is a celebration of the Houston startup ecosystem and the people who make it happen. Network while enjoying stunning views of the Downtown skyline and Wonderlawn holiday lights. Price of admission is $32.

This event is Tuesday, December 5, from 5 to 8 pm, at POST Houston. Click here to register.

December 5 — Fireside Chat with McKeon and Flavin

TMC CEO Bill McKeon and Portal Innovations CEO and Founder John Flavin collaborate in a fireside chat to provide valuable insight into the medtech field. Topics of discussion will include scientific ideation in life sciences, medtech, and bioinformatics through commercial proof of concept by delivering seed capital, specialized equipment, lab space, and management expertise to high-potential early-stage companies.

This event is Tuesday, December 5, from 4:30 to 6:30 pm, at Texas Medical Center Helix Park. Click here to register.

December 6 — Houston Veterans in Residence Showcase

The Veterans in Residence Showcase honors veteran and military spouse entrepreneurs who are participating in the Veterans in Residence Program in cohorts across the country. This event will celebrate the hard work of 23B ViR Cohort Entrepreneurs with a showcase, networking, and a pitch competition.

This event is Wednesday, December 6, from 6 to 8 pm, at the Cannon West Houston. Click here to register.

December 7 — 9th Annual Evening of Pediatric Device Innovation

Check out this annual gathering of members, colleagues, and guests for this FDA-supported pediatric device consortium that supports pediatric device innovators throughout the pediatric device life cycle to bring novel pediatric devices to pediatric patients.

This event is Thursday, December 7, from 4 to 7 pm, at Texas A&M EnMed Tower. Click here to register.

December 7 — Investor Speaker Series: Both Sides of the Coin

Attendees will get a behind-the-scenes look at the equity investment process for a Greentown Labs startup and what best practices both founders and investors can follow to keep things moving smoothly. There will also be a happy hour with opportunities to network and mingle.

This event is Thursday, December 7, from 4 to 7:30 pm, at Greentown Labs Houston. Click here to register.

December 8 — 2023 SMBHOU Gift of Guidance: Help a Nonprofit and Learn

Looking for an opportunity to make a difference this year? The Houston Social Media Breakfast will meet with 10 local nonprofits to help them with a strategy to use social media for their charity. Check out this event and meet other communicators in Houston. You need no special skills, just a willingness to learn and share.

This event is Friday, December 8, from 8:30 to 11 am, at 1801 Main St. Click here to register.

December 12 — Houston Methodist Reverse Pitch with Dr. Evan Collins

This reverse pitch session will be hosted by Dr. Evan D. Collins, MD MBA, Chief of the Houston Methodist Hand & Upper Extremity Center at the Texas Medical Center and the hand specialist for The Center for Performing Arts Medicine (CPAM) at Houston Methodist. Dr. Collins will share a short presentation about his clinical work and current challenges and then open the floor to discussion for new creative solutions.

This event is Tuesday, December 12, from 4 to 5:30 pm, at the Ion. Click here to register.

December 13 — Bayou City Bio Pulse

The Greater Houston Partnership’s Life Sciences Committee, in collaboration with BioHouston, invites you to attend the Bayou City Bio Pulse to connect with the region’s most innovative life sciences and biotechnology organizations face-to-face. The presenters will also describe best practices for AI Governance—the path to realizing AI’s possibilities while ensuring trust, fairness, safety, and security.

This event is Wednesday, December 13 from 4:30 to 6:30 pm, at Rice University. Click here to register.

December 19 — UH Tech Bridge - Innov8Hub Pitch Day

This event is your chance to immerse yourself in the vibrant startup ecosystem, network with industry experts, and discover the next big thing. Innov8Hub is a founder-driven series of accelerator programs for early-stage ventures and entrepreneurs who are members of the UH community.

This event is Tuesday, December 19, from 4:30 to 7 pm, at 5000 Gulf Fwy. Click here to register.

December 21 — Female Founders & Friends

Female founders, funders and allies looking for connections with other like-minded go-getters in the Houston community should head on down. Coffee and breakfast will be provided.

This event is Thursday, December 21, from 9 to 10 am, at the Sesh Coworking. Click here to register.

How Houston businesses can attract tech talent amid a tight labor market

guest column

It is no surprise to recruiters that, despite high profile layoffs at major corporations, the labor market remains tight, especially in the tech industry.

According to data from McKinsey from the first half of this year, more than 80 percent of tech workers who were laid off found a new job within three months. Many of them found jobs outside of the tech industry, where technically skilled employees are in increasingly high demand.

If small businesses want to remain competitive, they need to evolve their hiring strategies. One answer to expanding the talent pool is skills-based hiring. Unlike traditional recruitment, which focuses mainly on applicants with college degrees or direct experience in their field, a skill-based hiring approach prioritizes specific competencies.

Research from LinkedIn revealed employers who practice skills-based hiring are 60 percent more likely to have success with hiring. A winning skills-based hiring strategy will identify diverse candidates, promote internal upskilling and accelerate the hiring process.

Find diverse candidates

Conventional hiring strategies tend to overlook many of the diverse candidates who benefit from skills-based hiring. One important aspect of skills-based hiring is connecting with these groups, who may not apply through traditional pipelines like online applications, employee referrals, or job fairs.

For example, candidates such as veterans, parents reentering the workforce and people without a college degree may not have the same connections as traditional applicants. Yet they often bring transferable skills and an ability to learn, enabling them to succeed in the role.

To expand their talent pool, businesses can start by connecting with organizations and events in Houston that target diverse groups. For example, the Texas Veterans Commission recommends that employers reach out to their local Texas Workforce Solutions Center to link with veterans seeking employment.

By making an effort to connect specifically with underrepresented groups, small businesses and startups can quickly deepen their pool of available talent.

Provide internal upskilling

Skills-based hiring focuses on the competences employees have already. Through upskilling, however, employers can internally train candidates to take on a new role or hire candidates with strong learning potential. Upskilling is the practice of offering ongoing learning and development (L&D) opportunities to employees to close skill gaps.

Upskilling opportunities cannot only expand the talent pool by enabling employers to train candidates on the job. They can also attract more applications across the board because they are in high demand from job candidates. The American Upskilling Study from Gallup found 57 percent of workers were “extremely” or “very” interested in an upskilling program, especially Black and Hispanic workers.

For small businesses trying to stay competitive, upskilling is an essential component of a skill-based hiring approach.

Accelerate the hiring process

Time-to-hire is telling about the effectiveness of an organization’s recruitment process. When recruitment drags on too long, candidates may accept another offer or grow disengaged with the process. Meanwhile, open roles may go unfilled. Unsurprisingly, LinkedIn data has found over six in 10 HR leaders named time-to-hire as their most important metric for success.

Small businesses and startups who want to increase their competitiveness should start by calculating their current time-to-hire. Once they understand the situation, they can analyze their approach for weaknesses.

Some of the most effective solutions to improve time-to-hire could include redesigning the application process, streamlining interviews, implementing an applicant tracking system or refining job descriptions. The goal is a highly efficient recruitment process that identifies qualified candidates and puts out an offer as soon as possible.

As much as leaders may wish the labor market were not so competitive, it is important to accept the reality and take action. Much like larger corporations, small businesses and startups will find the upper echelon of talent when they embrace skills-based hiring as the future of recruitment.

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Jill Chapman is a director of early talent programs with Insperity, a leading provider of human resources and business performance solutions.

Houston software company with HR solutions raises $21M series B

money moves

A Houston company with a software platform to enhance skills management operations has raised its series B.

Kahuna Workforce Solutions announced it has closed a $21 million series B funding round led by Baltimore-based Resolve Growth Partners. Kahuna's platform provides its users — which come the from health care, energy, field service, and manufacturing industries — with effective assessment, training and development, and staffing and deployment initiatives.

“We are thrilled to work with Resolve as Kahuna begins the next growth phase. Their expertise in enterprise software, and commitment to innovation and continuous improvement fully aligns with our mission, vision, and goals for Kahuna,” Jai Shah, CEO of Kahuna Workforce Solutions, says in a news release. “This funding fuels our ability to provide mission-critical skills management solutions and support as we revolutionize how organizations manage and optimize workforce skills and capabilities.”

The software-as-a-service company will use the fresh funding to continue product development and hire across sales and marketing, product development, customer success, and engineering. The company also will grow to support global customers.

“Kahuna stands out as a category leader. They offer best-in-class skills management software and create true partnerships with customers to achieve transformative business value and operational outcomes,” Jit Sinha, co-founder and partner at Resolve Growth Partners, adds.

“Kahuna’s extensive understanding of market needs positions them uniquely in this space. Our investment is a testament to the confidence we have in Kahuna to continue leading and offering unparalleled solutions to meet the evolving needs of customers globally,” Sinha continues.

Shah, who's based in San Diego, founded the company in 2018. The company lists several of its customers on its website, including bp, GE Renewable Energy, Memorial Hermann, and more.