The Lone Star State, between cash and cowboys

Not just in Europe but in America itself, Texas is seen as the living, breathing cliché of the whole nation. The state's official motto is "Friendship", but unofficially, "Everything's bigger in Texas" and "Don't tread on me" sum up the Texan mindset in a few words. Yet this state of almost 700,000 square kilometers has far more to offer than muggy heat, endless desert and die-hard conservative farmers. In fact, Texas outgrew its own cliché long ago and is one of the most economically successful states in the entire US, drawing not only freedom-loving families but more and more companies too. Elon Musk made headlines, for example, when he announced he was moving his headquarters from liberal and therefore expensive California to business-friendly Texas.

Here are the 10 most popular US states for foreign direct investment.

1A conservative society…

There's no doubt about it: Texas is conservative. In much of Europe it's taken for granted that the state has the final say on children's education, but the Lone Star State sees things differently. Here, one concept is hugely popular that some European countries even ban: homeschooling. Instead of sending their children to conventional schools and high schools, parents are free to decide how and where their kids learn.

In Texas, the big weekly grocery run is still done the classic way: in your own car. And any idea of banning guns, even for hunters, would at best be laughed off in the Lone Star State as absurd. It goes without saying that every citizen has the right to defend their own property.

2…and a free economy

Things are different in most communities in Texas. Contrary to popular belief, Texan conservatism is far from dusty, narrow-minded thinking. It's often refreshingly pragmatic. Personal freedom is perhaps the highest good, as long as it doesn't bother anyone else. Economic freedom is almost untouchable too. Texas levies no income tax, for example. There's no classic corporate income tax either; the franchise tax only applies from annual revenue of $2.65 million (report years 2026/2027), and when you buy a car, a one-time motor vehicle sales tax of 6.25 percent of the price is due.

No wonder, then, that it's not only entrepreneurs and the wealthy from the coastal states moving to Texas, but also plenty of workers, employees and, increasingly, the self-employed. In Los Angeles, average housing costs run up to 630 percent above the national median. Texas, by comparison, sits six percent below the US average.

A few years ago, the typical price of a decent house in a good location was put at around $200,000; prices have risen considerably since then, especially in the metro areas. Rents still vary widely by location. And since the huge distances can only be covered by car anyway, it's well worth looking beyond the city limits of Houston, Dallas and Austin! That said, Austin is very walkable (far from true of every American city) and has a well-developed public transit system. Within an hour's drive you'll find countless small towns with a high quality of life, plus fascinating history and plenty of German roots worth discovering.

3Wurstfest and Western backdrops

Georgetown, a small town north of Austin with Victorian architecture, was voted the prettiest town in the state. New Braunfels, between Austin and San Antonio, lives up to its German name too: founded by German settlers in 1845, it is home to the oldest bakery in the state (German-owned, of course) and draws thousands of visitors every year to its legendary ten-day Wurstfest.

Fredericksburg is just as German. The town grew out of the peace that John O. Meusebach made with the Comanche for the settlers of the Adelsverein. How that emigration story connects with today's is told in Sebastian Sauerborn's memoir about his years on a ranch in Bastrop County. The town deliberately allows only locally owned shops downtown: no chains, no corporations. Alongside the obligatory bakery, that includes several breweries and hearty restaurants serving schnitzel, pork knuckle and bratwurst.

While Fredericksburg feels like a small 19th-century German town, just a few miles away in Gruene, despite its German name, you feel as if you've landed on the set of a Western. Except it isn't a set: the town really looks like that.

And Wimberley lives up to its slogan, "A nice place to visit, a great place to live". Set in the prairie and surrounded by small lakes and creeks, the village is so idyllic that dozens of films have been shot here.

4Texas: the place to be?

In reality, life in Texas is far more varied than we're often told. Life in this huge state goes well beyond hard work and church on Sunday, and Friday nights aren't only spent at the rodeo. Of course, many traditional Western elements and sports are part of the folklore that draws tourists from around the world, but they're also part of Texans' own identity and simply part of everyday life. At the same time, you'll often stumble across German place names in Texas, such as Schulenburg, Luckenbach, Pflugerville or Boerne, especially in the counties west of Austin and San Antonio.

Sure, not everything in Texas is as perfect as Texans like to tell anyone who will (or won't) listen; but overall, the state is on the rise for good reason. Texas deliberately chose not to impose the sprawling taxes common elsewhere, so you keep more of what you earn, and in return it hasn't built much of a welfare state. Thanks to the state's sheer size, though, housing and real estate stay relatively affordable, and the large share of agriculture keeps food prices reasonable.

Even the sometimes strict interpretation and enforcement of the law has more than the draconian side we usually hear about. It helps give Texas one of the lowest crime rates in the entire United States. Other rules, on the other hand, are remarkably relaxed. An adult doesn't need driving lessons to get a license, for example, and can take the written test comfortably from a home computer. Setting up a company is just a quick formality that takes a few days.

All in all, Texas works hard at a deliberately deregulated, simplified business world (successfully, it seems, as Elon Musk's example shows above all) while consciously holding on to its social values and traditions. To see what Texas offers as a business location, read What makes Texas so attractive as a US base.

In short

• Texas is conservative: homeschooling is legal and popular, the car is a given, and the right to defend your own property is undisputed.
• The economy is free: no income tax, no classic corporate income tax, and the franchise tax only from $2.65 million in annual revenue.
• Housing is cheaper than on the coasts, and around Austin you'll find small towns with German roots such as New Braunfels and Fredericksburg.
• Low taxes come with a lean welfare state; setting up a company and getting a driver's license are quick.

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