15 celebrities who moved to Texas on why it’s the best place for them

Glen Powell, Bella Hadid, and James Marsden all live in Texas.
Getty Images
Texas has become one of the top destinations for movers in the US.
Its business-friendly climate and lower cost of living attract people from all walks of life.
Supermodel Bella Hadid and actor James Marsden are among the celebrities who have moved to Texas.
Texas is popular for many reasons.
The second-largest US state is the birthplace of the iconic musician
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter
as well as NFL star Michael Strahan and actresses Selena Gomez and Reneé Zellweger.
It’s also home to a beloved football team, the
Dallas Cowboys
, and internationally famous festivals including
South by Southwest
(SXSW).
Beyond its cultural significance, Texas has a reputation for its
affordability
, largely due to its
relatively lower cost of living
and absence of state income tax. This personal finance appeal, combined with a
business-friendly environment,
has attracted entrepreneurs and their companies over the years.
Word has gotten out — and cities in the Lone Star State often lead lists of top places Americans are moving to.
According to a Business Insider analysis of individual-level data from the Census Bureau’s 2022
American Community Survey
, over 668,300 people
moved to Texas
between 2021 and 2022, the most recent time period for which data is available. This makes Texas the second-most popular destination in the US for movers, just behind
Florida
, which had about 739,000 inbound movers during the same period.
Several celebrities are among the hordes of movers to Texas. This reflects a broader trend of wealth realignment in the United States, where even the proverbial Joneses are moving to areas where their money goes further and the weather is more favorable.
Consider supermodel
Bella Hadid
, who moved to Fort Worth, Texas, this year to live with her professional horseman boyfriend, Adan Banuelos. Roseanne Barr and comedian and podcast host
Joe Rogan
have decamped from LA to Austin in recent years.
Many other stars have also relocated to Texas.
Business Insider has compiled a list of 15 notable celebrities and businesspeople who have moved themselves — and in some cases, their businesses — to the Lone Star State.
The list is presented in alphabetical order by last name.
Roseanne Barr traded the Hollywood Hills for 30 acres in Texas Hill Country.
Roseanne Barr.
Araya Doheny/Getty Images for DailyWire+
Roseanne Barr’s son, Jake Pentland, told
Us Weekly
in June 2025 that his famous mother had traded the Hollywood Hills for Texas Hill Country, a region in central Texas that includes cities like Austin and New Braunfels.
“My mom lives with me, my wife, and my two daughters — she’s the best grandma,” Pentland told the magazine.
In a separate June interview with
Fox News Digital
, Barr said living in Texas is a “dream come true” and described what her new life looks like.
“I’m doing a lot of mowing. I’ve got a really fantastic tractor out here, and I’m mowing,” Barr said. “The only problem is I don’t clear the trees quite as good as I should, and I’m always hitting a tree and knocking it over, and it always hits me in the head.”
Haylie Duff admitted it took a while to realize she could still have an acting career without living in LA.
Haylie Duff attends the LA Premiere of “Mira, Royal Detective” at Disney Studios on Saturday, March 7, 2020, in Burbank, Calif.
Mark Von Holden/Invision/AP
A native of Texas, Duff decided with her fiancé Matt Rosenberg to pack up the kids and leave California once the pandemic hit.
At first, she was nervous that the move would hurt her career.
“I think so much of my fear of moving out of Los Angeles was that my career was there and that I would never work again or something like that,” she
told Fox News Digital
in 2022. “And, you know, I think this has all taught us that Zoom certainly can be a very powerful tool. And we can, you know, very luckily for me, get to continue to work from here, and I get to live near my dad. I haven’t lived, here, near my dad in a really long time.”
Scott Eastwood loves living in Texas because it “slows life down.”
Actor Scott Eastwood.
Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP
The son of Clint Eastwood, Scott has been methodically building his own career, showing up in the “Fast and Furious” franchise and Guy Ritchie movies.
During his downtime in Texas, he does everything from fishing to hunting.
“I think that’s why people who come to Texas really can fall in love with it,” he
told Flaunt in 2021
from his home in Austin. “There’s more community, people are more neighborly, people are nice. It slows life down a little bit. It’s not this fast-paced living in a big city like New York or Los Angeles.”
Bella Hadid said she moved to Texas for her health.
Bella Hadid.
VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images
After spending most of her life jet-setting around the world trying to conquer the modeling industry, Hadid decided recently to take some time away from the spotlight.
In early 2024, she spoke to Allure about moving to Texas to focus on her mental and physical health (she was diagnosed with Lyme Disease in 2013), and be with her cowboy boyfriend Adan Banuelos.
“Just as I have styled myself for years now — which I still do — I love being able to do my own hair and makeup, be happy with how I look, and get ready with my girlfriends here in Texas,”
Hadid told Allure
. “We have the best time, and I never feel like I need to do too much.”
“For the first time now, I’m not putting on a fake face. If I don’t feel good, I won’t go. If I don’t feel good, I take time for myself. And I’ve never had the opportunity to do that or say that before,” Hadid added. “Now when anybody sees me in pictures and they say I look happy, I genuinely am. I am feeling better; my bad days now were my old good days.”
Since James Marsden moved to Texas, he lives closer to his mother.
Charley Gallay/Getty Images
The star has enjoyed visiting Austin for decades but finally decided to live there in 2020.
“I love it. I’ve been coming here for 20 years,” he told
“Live with Kelly and Ryan”
in 2020. “I’m much closer to my mom and everybody. I love it. It’s great.”
Keith Lee fell in love with Dallas’ restaurants.
Keith Lee onstage at VidCon Anaheim on June 23, 2023 in Anaheim, California.
Unique Nicole/Getty Images
The former mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter turned
TikTok food critic
has set up shop in Texas.
After living in Las Vegas, Lee relocated to Texas in November 2024. In a December video reviewing the downtown Dallas restaurant The Wicked Butcher, he revealed that he now lives in Dallas.
“One thing I do love about the Dallas food scene — we’ve been here a month, a month and a half — they do have some nice fine dining restaurants,” Lee said.
Matthew McConaughey wanted to be closer to family.
Matthew McConaughey UT
Getty
Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey and wife Camila Alves settled in Austin in 2012 after buying a 10,800-square-foot mansion.
According to a 2024
profile in Southern Living
, the move to Texas was initially because of a “family crisis,” when he needed to help his mother and two brothers. The couple decided to stay put and raise their three children there.
“Ritual came back,” McConaughey said of being back in Texas. “Whether that was Sunday church, sports, dinner together as a family every night, or staying up after that telling stories in the kitchen, sitting at the island pouring drinks and nibbling while retelling them all in different ways than we told them before.”
Elon Musk moved to Texas and brought his companies with him.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Steve Granitz/FilmMagic via Getty Images
In July, Elon Musk vowed to
move two of his companies, X and SpaceX
, out of California and into Texas. He already moved
Telsa to Texas
in 2021.
In 2020, Musk announced that he had already moved to Texas himself at
The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council summit
.
Musk has claimed to own a
tiny home in Texas
, and records show he
bought a house in Austin
in 2022.
Shaquille O’Neal has been buying up properties in North Texas.
Getty/E! Entertainment
In 2022, O’Neal bought a 5,269-square-foot home in Carrollton listed at $1,224,000 and sold it in 2024 for an undisclosed amount, though it was listed for $1.7 million, according to Realtor.com.
That year, Chexy Trust, tied to the Carrollton purchase, bought a 4,670-square-foot home in Rockwall County. In 2024, O’Neal opened a branch of his Big Chicken chain restaurant in Fort Worth.
As his footprint in the region grows, he told WFAA he plans to make the area his home base.
“I’m 75% going to move here full time,” O’Neal said in June. “I have to see what’s going on with TNT next year, but based on that, you’ll probably be seeing a lot more of me.”
Glen Powell got tired of the lack of freedom living in Los Angeles.
Glen Powell attends CinemaCon 2023.
Gabe Ginsberg/WireImage
The
“Twisters” star
, who is also a native Texan, moved back to Austin from Los Angeles recently to be close to his family and for his own mental health.
“When all you do is consume movies and entertainment, you could become a little self-aware and maybe derivative of yourself,” Powell
told USA Today
. “Your personal life, there’s no sort of freedom there, there’s storytelling around that, and I feel like that’s just not good for you on the long term.”
Jared Padalecki has a soft spot for Austin.
Charles Sykes/Invision/AP
Padalecki ditched Hollywood for Texas before it was a trend. The
“Supernatural” star,
a San Antonio native, relocated from Los Angeles to Austin with his wife, Genevieve, in 2012.
In an Instagram video taken on Austin’s 24th Street in 2020, he explained why he loves the city so much.
“Austin brings me a warmth and a happiness and a peace that I have been unable to find anywhere else in my travels,” Padalecki said. “I love being here.”
Christine Quinn’s return to her home state has brought her closer to her family.
Christine Quinn.
Arnold Jerocki/Getty Images
In 2025, former “Selling Sunset” star Christine Quinn relocated to her home state of Texas after splitting from her ex-husband, tech entrepreneur Christian Dumontet.
Quinn now lives in a suburb outside Dallas with her young son, Christian.
“I am really, really grateful to be living here,” Quinn told
People
in January, adding that she’s happy to be closer to family. “I have a sister who lives really close to me, and my son has a cousin. So it’s really something that I needed as opposed to the chaos when I was in Los Angeles.”
Joe Rogan ended up in Texas once the pandemic hit.
Syfy/Getty Images
Like many other celebs, Rogan
left Los Angeles
once the pandemic hit.
In
a 2023 episode
of his popular podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” he explained why he ended up in Texas.
“Then we went to the lake, and people are playing music and jumping in the water,” said Rogan, adding that his kids “were like, ‘We want to live here!'”
“That was it. Two months later, I lived here,” he said in the podcast episode.
Jamie Lynn Sigler has felt more connected to her craft since moving to Texas.
Jamie-Lynn Sigler in 2020.
Jason Mendez/Getty Images
“The Sopranos” star moved to Austin in 2021 with her family, husband Cutter Dykstra, and sons Beau and Jack.
“I almost feel more connected to my craft and why I love acting,” Sigler
told The New York Times in 2021
. “When the calls come in, it’s a beautiful surprise. I’m still on things and I’m still a businesswoman and it’s still my career, but I don’t feel the pressure around it because we took a stand for ourselves and we made decisions for our families.”
James Van Der Beek wanted to get his kids out of LA.
John Sciulli/Getty Images
A year after renewing his vows with his wife, Kimberly, in Austin, the “Dawson’s Creek” star moved the whole family there.
They now live on a 36-acre property.
“We wanted to get the kids out of Los Angeles,” Van Der Beek
told Austin Lifestyle in 2021
. “We wanted to give them space and we wanted them to live in nature.”
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