>>With roughly 30 million people, Texas is the second-most populated state in the country behind California, and it could take the crown in the decades ahead. While California’s population declined in 2022, Texas’ increased by 470,000, the most of any US state.

Plenty of Americans have moved to Texas in recent years, but the state’s population growth has also been driven by another factor — native-born residents aren’t leaving. Eighty-two percent of Texans born in the state still resided there as of 2021, according to an August Dallas Fed analysis of which states retain the most native-born residents. Texas had the highest rate in the US — North Carolina came in second, at about 76 percent.

It’s helping fuel an economic boom at a time when many businesses are struggling to attract workers.