Gone to Texas: The Land of Limitless Opportunity
Texas is where liberty lives and businesses thrive.
In the 19th century, “Gone to Texas” became a phrase associated with those seeking a new beginning. They left familiar lives behind in search of land, opportunity, work and the American Dream. The phrase captured the spirit of a state where economic freedom and limitless opportunity can be found, and the possibilities are as wide open as the Texas sky.
That spirit still defines Texas today.
Texas has built one of the world’s most powerful and diversified economies—one that supports jobs, bigger paychecks and opportunities for communities and residents to flourish. As the nation’s leading state for corporate investment and job creation, Texas is helping drive innovation, global competitiveness and prosperity across America.
Texas has been shaping America’s future for generations. The state was built on cotton, cattle and crude—helping power and feed the nation.
The discovery of oil at Spindletop, outside of Beaumont, in 1901 helped usher the U.S. into the oil age, transforming both Texas’ and the nation’s economy. It also transformed everyday American life by powering transportation, manufacturing and industrial growth. Today, Texas remains the nation’s energy leader while advancing new frontiers in wind, solar, battery storage, nuclear, hydrogen energy and more.
Innovation is in the state’s DNA.
Texas helped write one of the greatest chapters in American history at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Texas served as Mission Control for both the Gemini and Apollo missions, including Apollo 11 when humans first landed on the moon. The first word of the historic transmission from the lunar surface was “Houston.”
In Dallas, Texas Instruments pioneered the creation of the integrated circuit, laying the foundation for technologies that would transform the modern world. Where the semiconductor was born, the future is already building as Texas lead’s America’s chip resurgence.
Texas is also emerging as the new financial services capital of America. Major financial institutions and exchanges, including the Texas Stock Exchange, NYSE Texas and Nasdaq Texas, are signaling that Texas is the future of free enterprise and capital markets.
Today, the Texas economy is valued at $2.9 trillion and ranks as the eighth-largest economy in the world. Texas serves as the nation’s top exporting state in the U.S. for the past 24 consecutive years, solidifying “Made in Texas” as the most powerful global brand.
Building upon the state’s oil and agricultural beginnings, Texas is now a hub for diverse industry sectors: information technology and AI, biotech and life sciences, semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, energy, financial services, transportation and logistics, petroleum and chemicals and rare earth and mineral mining.
What began as the new frontier has become an economic powerhouse—but the state’s fundamental promise of prosperity remains the same.
Texas offers room to build, freedom to innovate and the opportunity to turn an idea into something that can change the world.
For generations, Americans came to Texas looking for opportunity. Today, businesses, innovators and families continue to do the same. Texas is where the world innovates and where companies and residents can find the freedom to dream big and find success.
