Where’s the hipster header?
California was better before it sold out and got popularIt writes itself! Come on!
"The majority of the people we are seeing are moving to states that don't have state income taxes."
Housing prices? Yes, that will cause you (e.g. me) to move. But the tax thing is a post-hoc rationalization. You pick a place where you want to live, can afford real estate, and presumably get a job. So you moved to Nevada because it’s right next to CA, or Florida because you are old, or Texas because you hate brown people and women, or Washington because you like brown people and women. Assuming you moved to western Washington…
“net outward migration” of 61,100 people
Yes, we are really feeling that in San Diego!
[note sarcasm]
About 3 years ago I bought a place in Sonora to retire. Comparing with Bellville Tx, it’s all pretty close to the same tax wise. CA is probably more regulated/bureaucratic, but some of that is probably a benefit.
Well, taxes yes…but what about the state slowly turning into sand? I would think that that would see many smart people taking off, too.
Yeah, seriously. The headline should read, “Why are people fleeing California? Housing costs, housing cost and housing costs. Also, housing costs.”
And in the Bay Area. I think it might have caused housing prices to increase at a slightly slowed rate! No, wait, it hasn’t.
Agreed. People in high-tax states don’t flee, because they also enjoy high levels of service. The possible exception might be the elderly, who sometimes get an attitude about educating other peoples’ children. But while lots of them complain, very few actually move for that reason.
I was paying $1800 for a 500 sq ft in the Bay Area. So I got out and came to San Diego. It ain’t a whole lot better, but the Sun shines a bit more.
Only $2200/month mortgage on a $724,000 house? My guess is that they bought it for much less, have benefited from the increase in house prices, and are now sucking capital out of the state by selling and moving to Ohio. Nothing wrong with that, but it is a little unseemly to complain about the the source of your good fortune.
Ah, this old chestnut. Always good for a hysterical headline about “people fleeing California.”
As the article notes,
“California has seen negative outward migration to other states for 22 of the last 25 years.”
And yet, curiously, the population of California has climbed relentlessly upward during the same period, from ~29M in 1990 to ~39M in 2014.
Here’s the thing:
Every year, roughly half a million people leave California to move to some other US state.
Every year, roughly half a million other people leave other US states to move to California.
The net balance of those two groups is usually a net out-migration, generally in the mid-two-digit thousands.
And if you interview the people leaving, you’ll find they complain about high taxes, high housing costs, high cost of living, and “excessive regulation” of business.
Thus has it always been.
If you look at the demographics of interstate mobility, you’ll see that the out-migrants tend to be lower income, less educated, and less skilled.
In-migrants are more likely to educated, skilled and financially comfortable.
We have a similar net imbalance with businesses and jobs: Businesses that leave are more likely to feature low-skill, low-wage jobs, and/or to be heavy polluters, Businesses that come here from other states are more likely to bring high-paid, high-skill jobs and cleaner, less regulation-averse industry.
California already has far too many people, and continues to grow despite the constant whining about high prices and high taxes.
But I’ve lived in California for a third of century, and that’s been true all the time I’ve been here.
Probably always will be.
Welcome to the Golden State. Don’t like the taxes and the high cost of living? Great. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
They probably jacked up the rent at least $200 the moment you moved out, too. I had some friends living in San Francisco a few years back who were already planning to move when their rent doubled (and it wasn’t cheap to begin with). Their moving out probably allowed the landlords to triple the rent…
My Wife and I bought a 3 bed/3 bath, 3 story walkup in just East of downtown San Diego for less than what I was paying in rent in the Bay Area. It’s insane the prices have gone the way of ridiculousness, but that is California.
i read yesterday CA is #11 in taxes at 9.9% which i believe californians pay less begrudgingly than people in other states because the climate alone is worth it. i’m not sure what to think about high rent and home prices driving people away as more prosperous people seem to be staying put in the golden state.
i’m afraid drought and climate change will have more negative effects than high costs in the state.
Joke’s on them if they’re moving to Ohio.
Our widespread wrath-of-God traffic in So Cal disagrees with that whole “net outflow” premise.
There’s the real reason people “flee” California: The Traffic.
I’ve got relatives who live less than a 45 minute train ride away. They never come to visit because traffic. If you can’t drive your car around like there’s nobody else on the road, then it’s time to go.
Rising
housing costsocean levels
Meh. More In-n-Out for the rest of us.
I must’ve slipped in somehow. We plan to leave before there’s no one left in the bay area but unsheltered people, baristas, misunderstood boy geniuses and self-driving robot cars stuck in traffic. 
