I'm moving to America's fastest-growing city. I get why it's so popular, but I hope it keeps the small-town Texas charm.

• California native Michelle Clifford is moving to Celina, Texas — America's fastest-growing city.
• Celina is attracting movers with its affordability, many newly built homes, and small-town vibe.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Michelle Clifford, a 33-year-old sales manager from California who is moving to Celina, Texas, in July. Celina's population surged 26.6% from July 2022 to July 2023, making it the fastest-growing city in the US. The population as of 2023 is 43,317. The essay has been edited for length and clarity.

I'm from Orange County. In high school, my best friend moved to Austin. I would visit her all the time, and I fell in love with Texas. I loved the people, their hospitality, and the state's lakes.

When I was a senior, I applied to only Texas colleges. I got into TCU — Texas Christian University — and attended for four years. I made a bunch of lifelong friends, who later even became my bridesmaids.

Back then, everyone, including me, thought I would stay after graduation — because I was a die-hard Texan.

But during my senior year of college, I fell in love with my husband, who was attending college in the Bay Area. He's a California boy through and through. So after graduating, I moved back to Southern California.

After college, we lived in San Diego for five years, and then, in 2018, moved to San Francisco where we lived until 2020. During that time, we got engaged, married, and had our first daughter. We then moved to Oceanside, California, and I became pregnant with my second daughter.

Over time, our priorities changed. We wanted to slow down and buy a house, but it wasn't realistic for us in California.

There were a lot of things that I liked about Texas, and my job also had an office in Frisco.

My husband and I were like, "Why not give this a go?"

In Texas, rent is cheaper and we can experience country living

We moved to Prosper, a town north of Dallas, in February. Prosper has been booming, with many Californians moving there.

I read that in 2009, the population was around 10,000 and now it's about 40,000.

Right now, we're renting a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house that sits on a third of an acre of land for $2,650 per month.

In Oceanside, we were renting a two-bedroom, two-bathroom bungalow built in the 1960s for $3,300. I was working remotely, so I had to convert my office into a nursery for my baby daughter. It made our living space feel very crowded.

In July, we are moving into a 2,400-square-foot home in Celina that sits on an acre of land that we purchased for around $600,000.

Celina is about an hour's drive from Dallas and is very rural; everywhere you look, there are longhorn cattle.

We were drawn to Celina because we have friends from California who moved here and college friends who are natives. It felt like the ideal place to settle down and establish roots.

More importantly, it was about doing something completely different. We've experienced city life and wanted to embrace country living and own some land.

Our home is located near the only post office in Celina, close to its downtown square, on a small street at the end of a cul-de-sac. Our next-door neighbors have eight cows that are always right next to our fence — it's hilarious. We also just installed a chicken coop.

It wasn't as difficult to buy a home in Texas as it would have been in California

I've heard crazy stories about buying homes, so I didn't have high expectations when it came to buying a home ourselves.

In California, my friends often lost bidding wars for homes to buyers willing to offer up to $150,000 above the asking price, often in cash.

But finding a home in Celina was the easiest process. It was like all the stars aligned.

Once we found our home, we contacted our landlord in Prosper, who was also originally from California and had become a real-estate agent, to help us make an offer.

The sellers accepted our offer the same day we put it in, and we entered escrow and closed within 15 days.

If we stayed in California, we knew that buying a home would likely require moving far east to be near the ocean, or settling for a lifetime of renting or living in a small townhouse without a backyard. We're outdoor people, so it would feel like we were getting robbed.

I'm not usually an emotional person, but in the last month, I swear, I cried all the time — I just never thought it was going to happen.

I've been renting or moving almost every single year since I was 18. To finally have something that's mine is the most amazing feeling.

Knowing that in Celina I'll have space for my daughters to run around is the biggest blessing. I keep imagining them playing at the end of a cul-de-sac just like I did when I was growing up.

I'm just so grateful. It feels like it was all meant to be.

Our money goes further in Texas

We absolutely could not afford a home similar to ours in a Dallas neighborhood or even back in California.

I have really good friends who live in the Preston Hollow neighborhood of Dallas, and those home prices are right up there with San Diego.

Buying a home wasn't possible in the Bay Area, especially with what we wanted within our budget of $700,000.

I had a good job, but spending so much on rent made it difficult to save for a down payment. We also had many friends and were busy with weddings, travel, and bachelorette parties.

I feel like a lot of the city's natives will roll their eyes at me calling Celina affordable. It's a double-edged sword with Californians coming in and raising prices.

But for me, it made our dream come true to be able to buy a home.

Celina is growing fast, but it still feels cozy

Celina is actually a big town radius-wise, but it has a small, cozy vibe.

Everyone says hi to everyone, and I feel like we all know one another. It's hard to describe, but it feels almost like you're going back in time.

I'm honored to consider myself a Celina resident and am grateful to be welcomed.

The city and people of Celina have done a good job of preserving their culture, with many small businesses and almost no fast-food chains.

But I do know it's one of the fastest-growing towns in America.

My husband and I are really good friends with a land broker in Celina, so we are aware of how up-and-coming it is.

There are many residential homes and apartment complexes being built, along with a bunch of commercial businesses.

Though it might be hypocritical for me to say — especially as someone who is contributing to its growth by moving here —it's kind of bittersweet.

While I find its growth really cool and exciting, I also feel kind of protective over it.

I hope Celina doesn't lose that quaint feel that drew me here in the first place.