If you do a 1 to 1 comparison of price to home it seems like a steal in Texas but it isn't. High property taxes for most households exceed what they would pay in state taxes and Texas is one of the worst locations for exploding home owners insurance. Cost of ownership doesn't actually change much. If you look at Austin and DFW right now, even with collapsing sales and prices they are still more expensive to own than in Utah right now.