Why Texas is Becoming America's Most Powerful State

Select video clips courtesy of Getty Images

Select video clips courtesy of the AP Archive

Special thanks to MapTiler / OpenStreetMap Contributors and GEOlayers 3

[barak-rocky-giles]

Texas is the only state I've ever been too where there are more people who identify with the state than identify with the country. A true testament to how unique the Texas culture is.

[phoenix]

We add the fact that Mexico is becoming a manufacturing superpower and Laredo, TX is becoming its logistics partner into the US. Texas is holding so many cards right now.

[gru]

I’ve lived in a small town in Texas for my entire life, and let’s just say it’s been an EXPERIENCE seeing how much this once “small town” has changed. It’s now soooo over populated. I miss my small town😭

[italtexasgal]

It feels good to hear positive facts about my home state. ❤ Born and raised Texas proud from the ATX. Now, let's pray for some rain. 🌧 🙏🏼

[nekomakhea]

"The gap in land size between Texas and Alaska can never be filled"
*Texas has declared war on Oklahoma*

[_Obi-Wan_Kenobi_]

As a German I‘m impressed that Texas is literally bigger than Germany entirely, at least geographically

[psychologymajorptsd]

I’ve lived in Texas for the past 17 years, spent my entire 13 year stint in the Navy in three of its NOSCs, and I have loved every second of it. I’m just sad that I may have to leave after marrying into Active Military. Hopefully we can come back home after retirement.

[Dr_Nay]

I moved to Texas in 2019 and the amount of growth that has occurred in this short period of time is insane! Texas is a great state; however, traffic is becoming unbearable in almost every direction. They have been widening the roads, doing construction and such, but I can only imagine what Texas will look like in a few more years. I love Texas and have no plans to leave 😊.

[hilestoby]

Texas has some of the greatest bird diversity in the United States. Many birds use Texas as a transit in their migratory routes. The wildflowers in the state are beautiful, especially with blue bonnets. You see waves wildflowers in the highways and many in the country roads.

[foxylovelace]

My parents bought their home in austin for something like $80, 000 in 1991. Last year their neighbor sold their home for $1 million. It's just a normal neighborhood built in the late 70s. That is wild to me.

[fatboysgarage]

I'm a life long Texan and I've noticed the growth even in small towns. A lot of it (from what I've seen) is from people leaving California, Florida, and Oklahoma to come to Texas.

[yalpad]

I moved from downtown SF to Southwest San Antonio. People are so educated here, is lovely. I'm loving texas and the birds singing in the morning instead of homeless in drugs howling in pain and desperation at 5am. I JUST FUCKING LOVE TEXAS

[lordhater]

Living in Austin, TX my whole life I can tell you that the growth out here is insane. Every time I go off to college and come back for breaks, there’s 3 new apartment complexes and 2 more lanes of traffic paved

[fawfulfan]

I'm glad you brought up how much wind power we produce in Texas. It's a massive operation. You can't go down any highway out in the west of the state without seeing wind farms now.

[Drizzt]

I moved to Texas in 2019 from Kentucky. I got my house in 2020 (during the pandemic) & this is the best thing I could've done (should've moved here years ago)

[RnWSolutions]

I'm glad he finally mentioned Corpus Christi after showing its biggest port in TX and refineries at least 5 times previously. I'm surprised though he didn't mention the beaches as a growing travel destination. We continue to see more and more Canadians, Asians, and Europeans vacation here.

[coreyengwall]

I lived in Texas for about 6 years, and you can literally see the population growing on a month by month basis.
I dated a girl that live nearly an hour away and I could see the traffic on 35 get heavier and heavier over the course of 2 years.

[jedwalker]

The “affordability” of Texas though is quickly going away. The incomes are justifying the rapidly increasing housing cost and all the other costs that are shooting up

[stephp]

As a texan I had no idea how incredibly rich we were seeing that many of us are living paycheck to paycheck & can barely afford rent, groceries, gas or even a home. What good is it if we can’t reap what we sow. I wanna be proud how far we’ve come but the Texas we built was not meant for us, but for the highest bidder. How sad.

[susanswinny]

I'm out of touch with what is taught in school these days, but when I was in 7th grade (1964) in San Antonio, we had the required Texas history class as taught by a native Texan, as were most of us back then.
San Antonio was more than half Mexican, descended from families who lived there since Texas was part of Mexico.
I left Texas for a few years for NY state and Chicago but came back home.
In those places, I never saw the state pride and welcoming homey feeling.
Texas used to be like a big spread out town...everyone was so neighborly.

It's lessened over the years a little.
It harder in the bigger cities to catch the Texas aesthetic.
But I plan to stay here the rest of my life if I have my way.