Ask the internet what Texans call a fizzy drink and you’ll get one confident answer: Coke. Every travel guide and dialect map says a true Texan calls a Sprite, a Dr Pepper and a root beer all “a Coke,” then asks “what kind?” There’s just one problem. It isn’t true anymore.
New research from Moneypenny, the world’s customer conversation experts, surveyed 1,001 people across Texas about how they really talk. The headline finding: most Texans now say “soda.” Coke has slipped to second. It’s one of several signs that “talkin’ Texan” is changing as the state grows and more people make Texas home.
The short version
In 2026, most Texans call a carbonated drink “soda.” Moneypenny’s research found 56% of Texans say “soda,” 26% say “Coke” regardless of brand, 8% say “soda pop” and 6% say “pop.” That’s a clear shift from the long-held idea that Texans call every soft drink a “Coke.”
Soda takes the crown (and Coke takes second)
Statewide, 56% of Texans say “soda,” while 26% say “Coke” regardless of the brand. “Soda pop” takes 8% and “pop” trails at 6%. For a state whose “Coke means any soft drink” habit is practically a cultural export, that’s a genuine upset.
Dig into the groups and it gets more interesting. Women lean harder into “soda” (60%) than men (52%), while men are more likely to reach for “Coke” as a catch-all (30% versus 23%). The bigger divide is age. “Soda” is the clear winner among younger Texans, at 72% of 18 to 24s and 59% of 25 to 34s, but it softens to 52% of 45 to 54s. “Coke” as a generic term is very much an older habit: 34% of 55 to 64s use it that way, compared with just 16% of 25 to 34s. If “Coke for everything” feels like the classic Texan move, that’s because it increasingly belongs to the classic Texan generation.
Region matters too. San Antonio is the state’s soda capital at 64%, followed by Houston at 59%, Dallas-Fort Worth at 53% and El Paso at 50%.
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Where Texans are most likely to say ‘soda’ Share who call a carbonated drink ‘soda,’ by region. Texas average: 56%.
Source: Moneypenny / Censuswide survey of 1,001 Texas residents, August 2026. |
Y’all is winning, and Gen Z is leading the charge
If soda unseated a king, “y’all” is defending its throne comfortably. Asked how they address a group of people, 59% of Texans say “y’all,” well ahead of “you guys” at 16%, “all of you” at 11% and “you all” at 9%.
The fun twist is who’s keeping it alive. You might assume “y’all” is a heritage word fading with each generation. The opposite is true. Gen Z is the most likely group of all to say it, at 71%, ahead of 64% of 25 to 34s, 53% of 35 to 44s and 52% of the over-65s. Women say “y’all” more than men (63% versus 56%), while men are a little more likely to opt for “all of you” or “you all.”
Geography splits the state in a way that tells its own story. “Y’all” is standard across most of Texas, used by 57% in Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth and 56% in San Antonio, and it peaks in Austin at 69%. Then there’s El Paso, where only 38% say “y’all.” Out west, “you guys” and “all of you” each pull 24%, far above the rest of the state. El Paso’s closeness to New Mexico and Mexico shapes a noticeably different version of Texan.
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Who says ‘y’all’? Share who say ‘y’all’ when addressing a group, by region. Texas average: 59%.
Source: Moneypenny / Censuswide survey of 1,001 Texas residents, August 2026. |
The Texan phrasebook: fixin’ to, reckon and a surprise comeback
Some phrases are Texan to the bone, and plenty of Texans still use them. “Fixin’ to” leads the pack at 61%, followed by “reckon” (34%), “over yonder” (31%), “pitch a fit” (30%) and “might could” (25%).
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The most-used Texan phrases Share of Texans who say they have used each expression.
Source: Moneypenny / Censuswide survey of 1,001 Texas residents, August 2026. |
Most of these skew older, as you’d expect. More than two-thirds of Texans aged 45 and up admit to “fixin’ to,” compared with 44% of 18 to 24s. “Over yonder” is even more generational, used by 44% of the over-65s but only 17% of the youngest adults. Men and women split on the details too: women are readier to say “fixin’ to” (63% versus 58%) and “pitch a fit” (32% versus 27%), while men lean toward “reckon” (36% versus 33%) and “might could” (27% versus 22%).
Then comes the outlier. “Might could” runs the other way, and it’s more popular with young Texans than old ones: a third of 18 to 24s use it, versus just 11% of 45 to 54s. As Moneypenny’s Eric Schurke, CEO North America, put it, the team assumed these expressions were holdovers from the old Texas guard, but “we ‘reckon’ bits of that globally famous Texas culture ‘might could’ be having a renaissance.”
What’s it called: convenience store, or gas station?
The place you grab a cold drink and a lottery ticket has a generational name too. Overall, 39% of Texans say “convenience store,” 32% say “gas station,” 18% say “corner store” and 7% just use the shop’s name.
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Convenience store, gas station, or corner store? What Texans most commonly call a store selling cold drinks, gas, snacks and lottery tickets.
Source: Moneypenny / Censuswide survey of 1,001 Texas residents, August 2026. |
Age drives almost all of it. “Convenience store” is the older term, used by 65% of the over-65s and 49% of 55 to 64s, but only 19% of 18 to 24s. Younger Texans overwhelmingly say “gas station,” at 48% of 18 to 24s and 46% of 35 to 44s. And El Paso stands apart again, where 50% say “gas station,” the highest in the state, while only 20% say “convenience store.”
Hablas español? Texas is more bilingual than you might think
Texas language isn’t only shifting in slang. It’s shifting in Spanish. Statewide, 30% of Texans know a few words or phrases, and beyond that, 14% speak and understand Spanish fluently, 11% do so fairly well and 16% can understand it without speaking it. Roughly a quarter of the state can’t speak or understand any.
The generational pattern turns the “language fades over time” assumption on its head again. Fluency is highest among 25 to 44s (20% fluent in both the 25 to 34 and 35 to 44 groups) and lowest among the over-65s (3%). And the regional gap is enormous. In El Paso, 44% speak Spanish fluently and another 28% speak it fairly well, so nearly three in four have real command of the language. Compare that with 16% in Dallas-Fort Worth and 26% in Houston.
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Where Spanish runs deepest Share who speak Spanish fluently or fairly well, by region.
Source: Moneypenny / Censuswide survey of 1,001 Texas residents, August 2026. |
How Texans actually answer the phone
Here’s where it gets useful for anyone who talks to customers for a living. We asked Texans how they answer the phone to an unknown caller, and the plain “hello” rules at 64%. After that it fragments fast: 15% open with “what’s up,” and around one in ten each go with a time-of-day greeting, a casual “hey,” or simply don’t answer unless they recognize the number. For all the state’s reputation, only 6% actually say “howdy.”
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How Texans answer an unknown caller Selected responses to “how do you answer the phone when you don’t know who is calling?”
Source: Moneypenny / Censuswide survey of 1,001 Texas residents, August 2026. |
The splits are telling. Women say “hello” far more than men (69% versus 59%), while men are twice as likely to answer with “what’s up” (20% versus 10%). Older Texans stick to a formal “hello” (77% of over-65s), while younger ones are more likely to lead with “hey” or a time-of-day greeting. Regionally, “what’s up” is a Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth habit (17% and 16%) and much rarer in Austin (8%).
Sign-offs are just as varied. Nearly half of Texans (48%) end a call with a simple “bye,” 33% say “talk to you later” and 24% prefer a fuller “goodbye.” Younger Texans keep it casual with “see ya later” (around 22% of under-35s versus 7% of over-65s), and “talk to you later” is most common in Houston (36%) and Dallas-Fort Worth (35%).
Should your AI receptionist have a Texas accent?
With more businesses using AI to answer calls, we asked a question that’s about to matter a lot: do Texans want an AI chatbot to reflect their local regional accent? The state is split and leans skeptical. Overall, 41% say no and 29% say yes, with the rest unsure. Women are more resistant than men (47% versus 34%), and the over-65s are the most against it at 62%.
El Paso, once again its own case, is the most open to the idea, with 46% in favor, against 28% in San Antonio. There’s no single right answer here, which is rather the point. Whether a conversation is handled by a real person or by an AI Receptionist, what customers want is for it to feel natural, helpful and appropriate to them. For some Texans that means a familiar local lilt. For plenty of others it very much doesn’t. Any business rolling out AI voice tools would do well to know which of its customers is which.
What it means for Dallas-Fort Worth businesses
If you run a business in the Metroplex, here’s your local snapshot. Your customers mostly say “soda” (53%) and “y’all” (57%), they post one of the state’s highest rates of “fixin’ to” (64%), and when they call, most open with “hello” though 16% will hit you with “what’s up.” One in six has real command of Spanish. None of this is trivia. The words people use, and the way they expect to be spoken to, shape whether a conversation feels right. That’s true whether the person calling reaches your front desk, an after-hours service or a bot.
It’s also just a great conversation starter for the next team lunch. Settle the soda-versus-Coke debate with actual numbers for once. At Moneypenny, we answer the phone for thousands of businesses, including many across the Lone Star State, so we pay close attention to how Texas really talks. You can see how we support local firms in our guide to the best phone answering services in Dallas.
Every caller, answered like a Texan
Whether it’s one of our real receptionists or our AI Receptionist, we make sure every caller reaches a friendly voice that sounds right for your customers. Call us any time at 866.766.5050.
Methodology
The research was conducted by Censuswide among a sample of 1,001 respondents who live in Texas. Data was collected between August 3 and August 11, 2026, via an online questionnaire. Censuswide is a member of the Market Research Society (MRS) and the British Polling Council (BPC), and a signatory of the Global Data Quality Pledge. Censuswide adheres to the MRS Code of Conduct and ESOMAR principles.
Frequently asked questions
Do most Texans say soda or Coke?
Most Texans now say “soda.” In Moneypenny’s 2026 research, 56% said “soda” and 26% said “Coke” as a generic term, with “soda pop” at 8% and “pop” at 6%.
What percentage of Texans say y’all?
59% of Texans say “y’all” when addressing a group, making it by far the most common choice. Gen Z uses it most, at 71%.
What is the most common Texan phrase?
Of the phrases surveyed, “fixin’ to” was the most widely used, at 61% of Texans, ahead of “reckon” (34%) and “over yonder” (31%).
Do Texans want AI chatbots to have a regional accent?
Most don’t. 41% said no and 29% said yes, though El Paso was the most open, at 46% in favor.
