Both large in terms of population and size, Texas and California have not only driven
the US economy since records began, they are both also among the largest states in term
of population and land mass.
But when you put these two giants head to head, and with all else being equal, just
which state edges it as the most super powerful awesome American State.
In the red corner, we have the lone star state, famous for its once independence, as well
as its massive land mass and oil producing mega power.
And in the blue corner, we have California, land of movies, magic, technological giants,
and fine wines.
What happens when we match up these two powerhouses?
That’s what we’ll find out, in this episode of The Infographics Show - Texas vs California.
California, the Golden State, with a population 34.9 million, is the most populous state in
America and, to put that population into perspective, almost 1 in every 8 Americans is Californian.
Texas, on the other hand, is the second biggest state geographically with a 268,601 square
miles land mass, and if it were a country, Texas would be the 40th largest in the world,
just after Chile and Zambia.
Texas has the second highest population after California and was its own independent nation
from 1836 to 1845.
The Texas Lone Star Flag has three colors.
Red to represent courage, white for liberty, blue for loyalty, and the white star added
during the battles between Texas and Mexico during the 1830s, for purity.
After Texas was annexed as an independent nation in 1845, Texans retained the right
to fly their Lone Star flags at the same height as the national stars and stripes.
California has more national parks than any other state, with 9 of the total 59 national
parks falling within the state’s borders.
It is also home to the world’s tallest trees, the Hyperion, an 800 year old redwood that
is an impressive 380 feet tall (115.54 meters) and is estimated to contain 530 cubic meters
of wood.
Austin, Texas, meanwhile, is home to North America’s largest urban bat colony with
over 1.5 million of the creatures roosting under Congress Avenue Bridge, and eating around
20,000lbs of insects every night.
And if that’s a lot of bats flapping around in the city, check out Bracken Cave, also
in Texas, where over 20 million bats live, which is about the same number of bats as
people living in Bangkok, Thailand, one of the most densely populated cities in the world.
California became home to the world’s first McDonald’s restaurant in 1940, after brothers
Richard and Maurice McDonald opened the first branch in San Bernardino.
Now McDonalds has over 36 thousand restaurants in 120 different countries serving 68 million
customers each and every day.
Not to be outdone on the world mega-corp stakes, Texas’s Exxon Mobil is the world’s largest
publicly traded oil and gas company and the world’s 10th largest company by revenue.
In 2014 Exxon was the Fortune 500’s 2nd most profitable company with a daily production
of almost 4 million barrels of oil.
And as we all probably know, the world’s largest movie industry (by revenue) is based
in California.
How much revenue?
Well, with a global box office forecast to increase from 38 billion dollars to nearly
50 billion dollars in 2020, Hollywood is set to see a healthy future indeed.
Hollywood is home to the Oscars, however the award statuette was actually named after the
Texan Oscar Pierce, whose niece worked for the award committee, and when seeing the award
for the first time said, “That looks just like my uncle Oscar,” and so the statuette
was named.
California is the world’s fifth-largest supplier of food, with over 90% of the USA’s
supply of raisins, pomegranates, rice, peaches, plums and pistachios coming from there.
It also exports tons fruit juices and wines.
Texas is all about petroleum, and if it were an independent nation, it would be the 5th
largest oil-producing nation worldwide.
Just 34 of Texas’s 254 counties are without natural gas, and the Gulf of Mexico is one
of the largest offshore drilling regions producing 463 million barrels of crude oil in 2012 alone.
California has the fourth-highest cost of living at 132 percent of the national average,
while Texas has the second lowest cost of living at 90 percent.
California has a minimum wage of $8 while Texas has a $7.25 minimum wage.
California was the first state to become a trillion dollar economy, and if it was a country,
it would be the sixth largest in the world, surpassing France.
Texas is home to the bowie knife named after Jim Bowie and designed by his brother Rezin.
On the subject of self-protection, in 2015, the Texas legislature passed a bill to allow
concealed handgun permit holders to begin to carry handguns openly, and in Gun Barrel
City, Texas, whose motto is “We shoot straight with you,” citizens are encouraged by legislation
to carry a firearm.
By comparison, in California, the gun laws are among the most restrictive in the United
States.
The gun death rate for California in 2013 was 7.89 per 100,000 citizens, compared with
Texas at 10.5.
It is still a hanging offense in Texas to steal or put any kind of markings on another
person’s cattle.
It’s also illegal to strip naked in front of a dead body, or to let a camel run loose
on the beach.
And in Los Angeles, where sunshine is guaranteed to the masses, it is illegal to throw a Frisbee
on the beach without first having sought permission from an official lifeguard.
So, which state would you rather live in?
Texas or California?
Let us know why in the comments!
Also, be sure to check out our other video called Donald Trump vs the Average American!
Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.
See you next time!