In a surprising twist, a former California resident has updated her family’s living situation—turns out that the much-touted Texas lifestyle isn’t as rosy as it seemed. After moving to the Lone Star State with dreams of a lower cost of living and big houses, the reality has hit hard. The woman admitted to Business Insider that she is packing her bags and relocating back to California. Why? Simple. In Texas, her family is responsible for footing the bill for all their utilities, something she never had to worry about back in California. Alongside this financial wake-up call, she also discovered that wages in Texas are significantly lower. While she earned nearly $18 an hour in California, she now finds herself making just $11 an hour in her new state.
This story raises eyebrows, especially among those who point out that the Texas lifestyle comes with some hefty responsibilities. Chuck Devore, a former Californian who now calls Texas home, is set to testify on Capitol Hill this week about the impact of government handouts on poverty rates. He brings to light a troubling perspective: California has maintained the highest supplemental poverty rate in the nation since 2009, even after accounting for all the government assistance programs tourists often hear about. This includes everything from Section 8 housing vouchers to what’s now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP for short. It begs the question: are all these programs really doing their job, or are they creating a cycle of dependency?
Delving deeper into the numbers reveals even more startling facts. The cost of living in California is reported to be a whopping 56% higher than in Texas. So for someone earning $11 an hour in Texas, the economic burden feels more stable, but they would need to earn at least $17 an hour in California to maintain the same standard of living. That’s like playing a game of Monopoly where the properties are just out of reach, no matter how many times you roll the dice.
The issues don’t stop with the people leaving Texas behind; the ramifications of California’s costly living also affect everyone else. Chuck Devore emphasizes that the state grapples with the highest electrical costs and most expensive gasoline prices in America. It’s not just a local problem; these economic hiccups ripple throughout the country, as potential taxes to cover the costs of such policies will be shouldered by all taxpayers—those living in California and beyond.
The conversation around what constitutes an effective anti-poverty program is more crucial now than ever. Devore argues convincingly that a stable job is one of the best routes out of poverty. Yet, under the current administration, the official poverty rates are climbing higher now than they were reported back in 2019, before the pandemic hit. It’s as if the very policies meant to lift families up are inadvertently holding them down. The story of the Californian family packing up to leave Texas serves as a potent reminder that sometimes, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side—even if the real estate listings say otherwise.
