Californians with Limited Means Seek Opportunities in Texas

KUT 90.5 | By KUT Staff

Published March 8, 2017 at 5:21 PM CST

Residents of Los Angeles' posh Hancock Park neighborhood can probably afford to stay in California. But many people living paycheck to paycheck are headed to Texas.

From Texas Standard:

In Los Angeles minimum wage doesn’t go very far. It’s hard to find an apartment for less than a thousand bucks – over half your monthly pay at that income level. Groceries, utilities, transportation and insurance eat up what’s left of your budget.

The struggle to keep their heads above the water has many Californians longing for someplace cheaper. As it turns out, Texas might be that place.Over the past decade, more than 150,000 economically disadvantaged people from California have moved down to the Lone Star State, data reporter Phillip Reese says in a recent article for the Sacramento Bee.

According to Reese, the people coming to Texas aren’t doing so for the barbecue. They’re doing so in order to earn a livable wage.

“If you are that single mom working a job for not that much pay, you only have a few options,” Reese says. “You can spend a huge amount of your money on rent, you can try to room up with five or six other people or you can try to move somewhere else where it’s cheaper and a lot of people have made that choice.”

What you’ll hear in this segment:

– When did this trend begin?

– Will California price out the people who fill its lower tier jobs?

– Whether or not there are any signs of California becoming a more affordable place to live

Written by Morgan O’Hanlon.