Quick Read
Tesla (TSLA) and Caterpillar (CAT) joined 184 companies relocating to Texas, which generated roughly a fifth of all net new U.S. jobs since 2020.
A standalone Texas Stock Exchange launches this summer, with Trump’s own social media venture being the first listing on NYSE’s new Texas branch.
Texas will build two-fifths of all U.S. utility-scale solar this year, anchoring a data center buildout powered by cheap ERCOT generation and abundant land.
Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Caterpillar didn’t make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.
On a recent Diet TBPN segment, co-host John Coogan read at length from an Economist piece making a striking claim about where corporate America now lives. The thesis, quoted directly: “Texas is steadily establishing itself as America Inc.’s new center of gravity. No state receives more business investment or is adding more people to its population.” For investors, the implication is that Texas may offer some of the most compelling long-term opportunities in the country, as companies, workers, and investment dollars continue to concentrate there.
The Headquarters Migration Is Real
The numbers cited in the segment are notable. From 2020 to 2025, at least 184 companies moved their headquarters to Texas, including Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT). The state created roughly a fifth of all net new U.S. jobs during that period. Recently, ExxonMobil‘s (NYSE:XOM) shareholder-approved reincorporation from New Jersey to Texas was a symbolic move for a company that has been physically based in the Dallas area for years.
Some of these drivers are structural. The Tax Foundation’s 2025 State Tax Competitiveness Index ranks Texas 7th overall, with a No. 1 ranking for individual income tax (the state has none). Meanwhile, New York ranks 50th, and California ranks 48th.
Cost of living also reinforces the gap. Texas sits at a regional price parity of 97.057, below the national average of 100, against New York at 107.921 and California at 110.72. For executives modeling payroll and real estate expenses, that 10-13-point spread compounds quickly.
Energy and Data Centers: The Next Layer
The relocation story has moved beyond tax arbitrage. Texas’s energy dominance is now fueling an AI-era infrastructure boom. The state is expected to build two-fifths of all utility-scale solar in America this year, and that generation is feeding a data center buildout that increasingly defines where hyperscale compute will live. Large-scale solar, battery storage, and natural gas projects across Texas appear repeatedly in the EIA’s May 2026 Electric Power Monthly construction pipeline, including the 350-MW Chillingham Solar, 240-MW Cattlemen Solar Park, and the 200-MW Destiny Storage project.
