The 11 fastest-growing cities in America

Among the reasons that Texas is such a popular relocation destination is that it has myriad affordable housing and living options and good jobs, says Joel Kotkin, author of “The Human City: Urbanism for the Rest of Us” and the executive director of the Houston-based think tank Center for Opportunity Urbanism. “Middle-wage employees can live a middle-class life here,” he says. (Of course, Texas has its downsides, too, including hot weather — temperatures frequently hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit in summer — and in many of the larger cities, including Houston and Dallas, tons of automobile traffic.)