Why America is going to look more like Texas
Lessons from the surge of the Lone Star State
Texas keeps getting bigger. In the year to June 2022 the Lone Star State added 471,000 people, nearly as many as live in Atlanta, Georgia. More than one in three of the net new jobs created in America since February 2020 was created there. A thriving energy industry has helped, but, as our briefing explains, the boom is remarkably broad-based. Sometime in the 2040s, Texas is likely to pass California in population. Like it or not, America is becoming a bit more Texan every day.
With 38 members of Congress and 40 electoral-college votes in 2024 (around 15% of those required to win the presidency), Texas will have a mighty say in national politics. If people and firms continue moving there, as looks likely, Texas will take on an even greater prominence in the American economy. It will also influence how the country navigates its energy transition, because Texas leads not just in oil and gas but also in renewables such as wind and solar. And America’s demography will increasingly resemble that of Texas today (where, already, 60% of the population is non-white).
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline "Lean, mean and surprisingly green"
From the March 18th 2023 edition
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