California vs. Texas
It’s one of America’s longest-running debates: Which state is better, and in particular, the better place to live?
The pandemic turbocharged this discussion, as people moved from California to Texas in droves. Recently, my colleague Alcynna Lloyd reignited the debate for BI readers.
She wrote about a family that left California for Texas in search of a lower cost of living. Instead, they found themselves unhappy with much of the experience and are now planning a return to the Golden State.
The piece struck a nerve.
Readers left nearly 700 comments on our recently launched comments section, which gives you the chance to engage directly with our journalism and each other. Alcynna also got roughly 100 emails from people eager to weigh in.
Some said the family made a mistake leaving California in the first place. Others said the family’s experience didn’t reflect the reality of life in Texas.
We used AI to analyze sentiment in the reader comments on Alcynna’s story and found pro-Texas takes seemed to hold a slight majority.
“Texas is very diverse, and not all parts of Texas are the same,” one commenter said, adding that life in El Paso — where the family Alcynna spoke to currently lives — can be pretty different from the state’s other cities.
Of course, there were plenty of pro-California takes, too.
“As a 4th-generation Texan that moved to California, all I can say is Welcome Back!” wrote a commenter. “Yes, its cheaper to live in Texas, but you get what you pay for.”
The reactions got me thinking why this debate remains so heated. For many Americans, the California-versus-Texas question is shorthand for broader societal issues, like affordability, jobs, politics, taxes, culture, and housing.
I’m a New Yorker, but my in-laws are in Dallas. Every time we visit, they make their pitch for us to move there permanently. (Sorry, it isn’t happening.)
California or Texas, what’s your preferred state to live and why? Let me know what you think at srussolillo@insider.com.
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