California Woman Moves To Texas For Freedom, Returns Citing High Costs And Political Exhaustion

A woman from California who moved to Texas because of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate returned after four months because Texas was expensive and everyone was obsessed with politics.

In an essay sent to Business Insider, Kellee Speakman, 50, said she moved with her family from Temecula, California, to the Dallas-Fort Worth area in March 2022. She said she moved to the Lone Star state because her brother was moving there too, but also because of some California policies.

“I was being told that as a teacher, I was going to have to get the COVID-19 vaccine, and I didn’t want it,” Speakman wrote. “I consider myself to be pretty conservative. There are a lot of California policies I’m not in favor of.” She added that many people were moving to Texas at the time saying there was “freedom” in the state.

Soon, she realized that Texas was not as cheap as she had been told. She said that it was true that Texas has no income taxes, but the property taxes were “horrific”  and services were more expensive.

“I figured with no income taxes, the prices of services, like going to a beauty salon, would be the same as in California, if not less,” Speakman said. “But it was actually more expensive!”

She said that groceries were about the same amount as in California, and that, while gasoline is cheaper, “almost every road in Texas is a toll road, so you’re still paying to drive.”

Speakman also expressed that politics in Texas were too much. She recalled that everyone she met in the state would say to her: “You’re welcome here as long as you vote the right way.”

“I also realized that politics in California don’t affect my everyday life the way I felt they did in Texas”, she wrote. “We’re not obsessed with politics here, but when I was in Texas, that was the main conversation. It was exhausting.”

In addition, she mentioned that while it’s true there are many homeless people in California, there are also significant homeless populations in San Antonio and Dallas.

Now that Speakman is back in California, she says she is happy and that her time in Texas helped her to appreciate her home state.

“I really appreciate that California protects its land, I want to have public spaces that are beautiful. Plus, I love California’s great income for teachers and the great health benefits we’re given. I didn’t know how superior it was until I left.”

In conclusion, she remarked, “I actually came back a little bit more purple than I started. I realized that every state, red or blue, has its cons. No place is perfect.”