Lovin’ the Lone Star State

Texans really don’t want to leave the Lone Star State, this study says

Texans are staying put.

Courtesy photo

As we all know, Texans take pride in Texas. Bumper stickers, T-shirts, and TV commercials make that abundantly clear.

So it should come as no surprise at all that Texans love, love, love to live in Texas — and most don’t want to move to Oklahoma (ugh!) or any other less-worthy state.

A study by LendingTree, an online marketplace for borrowers, shows that among all 50 states, Texas had the highest percentage of residents wanting to move within the state rather than to another state.

Nearly 93 percent of LendingTree requests from Texans seeking a home-purchase mortgage were considering properties within our borders, the study says. Viewed another way, only about 7 percent of Texas residents were hoping to put the Lone Star State in the rearview mirror.

For this study, LendingTree reviewed mortgage inquiries for October 2016 to October 2017 from residents across the country. The results revealed the most popular new destination for residents of each state along with the percentage of mortgage requests from out-of-staters.

Of the slim number of homebuyers hoping to leave Texas, Florida was the leading destination, according to the study. Nearly 10.5 percent of Texas’ out-of-state movers were heading to the Sunshine State. Texas was among 18 states where Florida was the No. 1 relocation spot.

Texas was the top out-of-state relocation target for residents of five nearby states: Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. Of those five states, only Colorado does not border Texas.

“If individuals are looking to move outside of state, most don’t want to go far. More than half of the most popular new destination states border the current state,” LendingTree says.

Overall, Texas was the second most popular out-of-state destination, just behind Florida and ahead of California, Washington, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and North Carolina.

Dallas Got Robbed

The richest small town in Texas is surprisingly not in Dallas

Facebook / City of Bellaire, Texas

Houston neighbor Bellaire is the richest town in Texas.

A survey of affluent small towns has found one town in Texas to be at the top of the list, but shockingly, it is not in Dallas. The town of Bellaire, a small enclave within the Houston metro area, has earned the top spot as the richest small town in Texas for 2025. Boo.

The report, "The Richest Small Town in Every State," from GoBankingRates, selected one city from each state, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey to determine the 50 richest small towns based on their median household income.

Describing Bellaire as a "small town" might be a misnomer. It's located less than 10 miles from downtown Houston and is fully surrounded by the City of Houston. It's really more of a wealthy enclave within Houston, with a population of just over 17,000 residents.

Those affluent citizens earn a median $236,311 in income every year, which GoBankingRates says is the 11th highest household median income out of all 50 cities included in the report.

The average home in this city is worth over $1.12 million, but Bellaire's lavish residential reputation often attracts properties with multi-million-dollar price tags.

Bellaire also earned a shining 81 livability score for its top quality schools, health and safety, commute times, with an abundance of exceptional local amenities.

Those include conveniently located grocery stores, coffee shops, diverse dining options, and spacious parks.

It's not the first time that Bellaire has caught the eye of GoBankingRates, which previously ranked it as the No. 23 wealthiest suburb in America, and it's been named on similar lists comparing the richest American cities.

Dallas can take comfort in the fact that a different survey found Lewisville to be of the cities attracting the most high-income households, meaning those that make more than $200,000. However, census data places the most recent median income in Lewisville at $85,002 — so it's nowhere close to catching up to Bellaire.

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