The tale of two great states
By Ben Caballero
[This column was first published by Modern Home Builders.]
January 11th, 2022 – Single-family starts clearly demonstrate the rise of Texas and the fall of California over the last 30 years. I live in Texas, and like most Americans, I am proud of my home state, but it saddens me to see what is happening in the beautiful state of California.
The ascent of Texas and the decline of California appears in the chart below.
Texas’ single-family starts reported historical low occurred in 1988 with 3.32 percent of all US production. By 2020, The Lone Star State, with 8.83 percent of the US population, had 15.98 percent of all US single-family starts.
California’s single-family starts peaked in 1989 with a national share of 16.24 percent. No other state was close. Seven years later in 1996, it dropped to 6.33 percent. By 2020, with 12.04 percent of the US population, the Golden State had just 5.96 percent of all US single-family starts.
Population explosion
While California currently has ten more million total residents than Texas, Texas experienced the greatest population increase of any state in the last decade. By 2019, Texas grew 70 percent more than California with 3,849,790 residents, significantly exceeding California’s growth of 2,257,704.
US Census Bureau data shows the Texas population growth from 2010 to 2019 accounted for almost 20 percent of the increase in the US population…more
