I’ve been keenly interested in the investment theme surrounding vigorous competition between states. But when I look at Rhode Island and compare it to Texas or North Dakota, I ask is it even a competition? It’s not even close. The WSJ ran a piece yesterday discussing the pressures put on the infrastructure in Texas from the inflow of new residents. Sounds like a business opportunity to me rather than a problem. Which states attract new residents and businesses? It makes sense to partner up with them.
Americans have flocked to Texas in search of a piece of the state’s booming economy as much of the rest of the country struggled.
Now, the state’s largest cities are seeing crowded highways, strained water supplies and other pressures that have come with the growth. And Texas politicians—protective of the small-government, low-tax policies many of them believe are at the root of the state’s success—are grappling with how to pay the price of prosperity.
Aided by the promise of plentiful employment and a low cost of living, Texas added 1.3 million people from 2010 to 2013, more than any other state, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The Lone Star State’s population has pushed past 26 million and is projected to reach 40 million by 2050.
Half of the 10 American cities with the largest population increases in the 12 months ended July 1, 2012, were in Texas, according to the Census Bureau. Houston, the nation’s fourth-biggest city with about 2.2 million people, added 34,625 residents, second only to New York. Austin added 25,395 and now has some 843,000 residents, more than San Francisco.
