As long as I’ve been blogging (and long before), the Texas economy has been growing by leaps and bounds. That trend continues with Texas leading the nation in economic growth.
As California continues to impose strict regulations on businesses, many companies have moved to Texas, strengthening Texas’ position as America’s new financial capital.
In a meeting in Houston on Friday, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent spoke on the contrast between California and Texas.
“In California, I saw firsthand what years of failed governance looks like: a tax system that is hostile to ambition. A regulatory state that smothers enterprise. An economic climate indifferent to consequence,” said Bessent according to Fox News Digital. “Here in Texas, meanwhile, the contrast is so striking that it begins to feel like a tale of two states.”
Since 2018, 725 companies have moved to Texas, including behemoths such as Hewlett-Packard, Charles Schwab, and Chevrolet, underscoring the state’s business-friendly appeal.
Not to mention Chevron, Caterpillar, Telsa and newly-minted $2 trillion IPO SpaceX. Just think, if California hadn’t transed his kids and kept Elon Musk from building cars, it could have kept all those funds and jobs in the once Golden State.
Texas is currently the fastest-growing state in terms of GDP and is set to surpass California by 2036.
Gov. Greg Abbott celebrated the creation of 132,500 jobs between December 2024 and December 2025 as the state reached a new high, with the largest labor force in its history.
The influx of large businesses migrating to Texas has also increased demand on local financial institutions to meet growing levels of commerce.
“Our banking sector’s strength and depth is a true differentiator not seen in other states or other countries. America is choosing Texas. The world is choosing Texas,” said Texas Bankers Association CEO Chris Furlow.
Though Texas is blessed with a lot of natural resources, the source of our success is quite repeatable: Low taxes, low regulation, right to work laws, a stable, reliable business environment, the rule of law, a law-and-order approach to preventing crime, and long-term Republican governance that isn’t ruining the state in the name of socialism and social justice madness. And other states that follow those rules should be able to achieve steady economic growth.
Too bad Democrat-run blue states seem incapable of doing so…
Tags: California, Caterpillar, Chevrolet, Chevron, Chris Furlow, Democrats, Economics, Elon Musk, Grant Hulk, Greg Abbott, Hewett-Packard, Republicans, Schwab, Scott Bessent, Social Justice Warriors, SpaceX, technology, Texas, Texas Bankers Association, Texas Scorecard
Too bad Texas can’t get a handle on H-1B visa abuse and SBA loan fraud but I guess the Feds (and Leftist “judges”) are hindering doing anything about it greatly.
Texas is, in fact, doing something about H-1B abuse.
I understand the comparison to other US states, but let’s be clear; this economic growth in comparison to other nations is also stellar. It is not just California that is taking money from “millionaires” and rejecting Musk’s products.
“Texas is currently the fastest-growing state in terms of GDP and is set to surpass California by 2036.”
Texas is not the fastest growing state in the U.S. Please look at the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis’ (BEA) ‘GDP by State’ pages. The Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan, and Arizona are all growing their GDP faster than Texas. California is actually not that far behind, which calls into question the Texas Scorecard 2036 prediction.
Please look at BEA’s authoritative ‘GDP by State’ pages. The current BEA release is April 9th, and the next BEA release will be on the 25th.
The link provided by Lawrence to Texas Scorecard cites explicitly BEA and is clear that it is using nominal dollars as the measure of growth.
Per BEA, North Dakota’s GDP growth in 2025 in nominal dollars was roughly $1.8b. Its total 4th quarter 2025 GDP in nominal dollars was $64.3b.
Per BEA, Texas GDP growth in 2025 in nominal dollars was roughly $169b. That’s a growth that’s more than North Dakota’s entire GDP. That’s because Texas GDP is $2,304b in nominal dollars in 4th quarter 2025.
The combined GDP in nominal dollars at 4th quarter 2025 of all the states mentioned above as supposedly growing faster than Texas is roughly $1,302b. A trillion nominal dollars less than Texas GDP. When you start from such smaller numbers, it is pretty easy to have a higher percent growth, but as nobody was using percent growth. There is no point using that metric, because it would be silly comparison with such small numbers.
Mazur goes both ways, using both percentages and dollars. If you download his data set, you will observe that California has gained a little on Texas since 2023.
Using raw dollars makes no sense in this kind of analysis because population drives economic totals. Why per capita analysis is used by economists to evaluate economic performance, not raw dollars.