Your company is moving to Texas. Should you go?

The announcement usually arrives the same way: an all-hands meeting, a slide about growth and cost of living, and a deadline to tell HR whether you are coming to Austin. About 21 companies moved their headquarters from California to the Austin metro from 2021 through early 2025, so this is not a rare conversation. Most employees treat it as a yes-or-no question about Texas. It is really a negotiation, and the people who treat it that way leave with better terms either way.

Should you relocate with your company to Texas?

Relocate only if the move improves your after-tax pay, your career path and your household’s life once you count everything you give up. Texas has no state income tax, and California’s top rate is 13.3%, so higher earners keep noticeably more. But housing, insurance, child care and a partner’s career are part of the math too. Ask whether your salary changes with the move. Some employers adjust pay down for a lower-cost market, and an offer to “keep your job” at a lower rate is a new offer, and it deserves the same side-by-side math I use for comparing two job offers.

What California rights do you give up in Texas?

You trade California’s employee protections for Texas law, which mostly follows federal minimums. In Texas there is no daily overtime, no required meal or rest breaks for adults, no statewide paid sick leave and no pay transparency law. Family leave depends on the federal FMLA, which applies only to employers with 50 or more employees. The biggest change is the non-compete agreement. California voids them; Texas enforces a reasonable one. If your relocation paperwork includes a non-compete, read it as carefully as the salary. Part 2 of my relocation series compares every rule side by side.

How do you negotiate a relocation package?

Negotiate the after-tax value, not the headline number. Federal law now treats every dollar of employer relocation money as taxable income, and that change is permanent. Ask for these in writing:

• A tax gross-up, so the package covers the move after taxes. Without one, a lump sum can lose close to 30% of its value.
• Temporary housing and a house-hunting trip before you sign a lease or a contract.
• Your title, pay and reporting line in Austin, confirmed before you give notice on your California home.
• Any repayment terms in full. California’s AB 692 bars most clawbacks of relocation money in agreements made under California law and signed on or after January 1, 2027, so a request to repay is worth a second look, and worth timing.

If the employer will not move on the package, ask for a retention bonus paid after a set period instead. It costs them the same and rewards you for staying.

What are you owed if you stay in California?

If your role ends because you will not move, California law still protects you on the way out. A covered employer relocating 100 miles or more owes 60 days’ written notice under the California WARN Act. Your final paycheck, including all accrued vacation, is due on your last day if you are let go, and late pay can earn you up to 30 days of wages in waiting time penalties, explained in California final paycheck rules.

Severance is not required by law, so it is negotiated. Ask for it, and read any release before you sign it; when severance is worth signing covers what to check. File for unemployment with the EDD and let the agency decide eligibility; do not assume declining a cross-country move disqualifies you. And if the company offers to keep you as a remote employee in California, remember that you keep California law, including breaks, sick leave and daily overtime if you are non-exempt.

Whichever way you decide, decide with the numbers in front of you. If you want help pricing the offer and the counteroffer, my negotiation support is built for exactly this moment, and Part 1 of the series shows what your employer is weighing on the other side of the table.

McKinley holds a J.D. but is not a licensed attorney. Articles here are general information, not legal advice. For your specific situation, talk with an employment attorney.