Reporting from Galveston, Texas-- After trying out Pasadena, Atlanta and Miami, Lilian Junco decided this was the place to retire. Being near her son was the first attraction, but soon she was drawn in by the same combination of features that has lured tens of thousands of others from out of state: Gulf Coast living and super-low costs.

With some of the country's lowest prices for housing, gas and food, no state income tax and one of the most resilient economies in the nation, Galveston and other parts of the Lone Star State are emerging as the new Florida.

This week, Florida disclosed population figures that show a decline of 57,000 over the 12 months ended April 1, the first annual drop since the 1940s. Much of the loss has come in parts of southern Florida that long attracted retirees.

Meantime, other Sun Belt states such as Nevada and Arizona have been hit hard by the recession, and expensive California has long seen more people leave than move in, a domestic migration measure that doesn't include foreign immigration or births.

But Texas, which has weathered the current recession better than most parts of the country, is almost booming, in part because an earlier oil industry crash had left the state's banks too shaken to go on the home-mortgage binge that ended up crippling so many other states.