By One Measure, Texas Addresses Are the Most Desirable in the U.S.

Texas traveled a bumpy road in 2018. We re-elected our felony-indicted attorney general, the one who's dead set on ending health insurance coverage for those with pre-existing conditions and ending any hope of the Dreamers ever becoming citizens. Same thing with our junior Sen. Ted Cruz, perhaps the most unlikable man in politics.

Politicians across the state — here's looking at you Dwaine Caraway, Steve Stockman and Carlos Uresti — got busted for corruption. The state's cities continued their search for answers to help the working poor. Organizers in Dallas failed to get paid sick leave on the city's November ballot, while a state court struck down a similar ordinance in Austin.

Whether you're a progressive in Dallas, Houston or El Paso who wonders when the blue high tide is coming or a conservative in Amarillo or Abilene wondering what the hell is happening to your state, it's impossible not to feel, as a Texas resident, that you're living in a state that's on the brink of something. Whatever your outlook heading into 2019, however, the Observer has some good news for you: According to U-Haul, Texas remains the highest growth state in the U.S. for the third year in a row. 

"Texas is gaining more residents than any other state. I think it is the most desirable state in which to live. Obviously, many U-Haul truck-sharing customers agree with me." — Kevin Flanagan

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“North Texas is truly bursting at the seams,” Kevin Flanagan, U-Haul Company of Northwest Dallas president, said Wednesday. “McKinney, Frisco and the entire Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex has been growing substantially in recent years. Texas is gaining more residents than any other state. I think it is the most desirable state in which to live. Obviously, many U-Haul truck-sharing customers agree with me."

If the regional director of the U.S.' biggest self-moving operation says it, it must be true.

According to data from the orange and white vehicle purveyor, Texas saw a 5 percent increase in one-way moving truck arrivals in 2018 over 2017. New arrivals to the state, according to the company, make up 50.2 percent of all one-way moves using the company's vans and trucks in the state, with the Houston, DFW and Austin areas seeing the lion's share of the traffic.

Trailing Texas in U-Haul's 2018 rankings were fellow Southern states Florida and South Carolina, while California, Michigan and Illinois saw the highest growth in departing movers, relative to newcomers.