People Are Leaving California

For the first time in since records have been kept, which is about 120 years, people are leaving the State of California.

The population of California has literally gone down.

Really. 

This is not just a reduction in the expected increase. It isn't that California's population is growing more slowly than other states.

The actual number of California residents has decreased.

That means that the number of births in, and migrations to, California has been outpaced by the number of deaths and departures. An important part of this is that far more people are leaving California than moving to California.

Anyone who has priced moving vans knows this.

It costs far more to rent a moving van/truck to go from California to, say, Texas, than it costs to rent one to go from Texas to California. This is so much the case that some people can save money by flying to Texas and renting a moving van/truck for a round trip.

There are countless Facebook groups for people considering, planning to, or in the process of leaving California, some for specific states as destinations.

But it isn't just people in general who are leaving California. It is productive, entrepreneurial, taxpaying citizens who are leaving. Nobody would mind if all the people leaving were career criminals or other drains on decent society. 

I'm a lifelong Californian. I haven't spent more than two weeks (maybe three) at a time outside of California. California has great weather, beautiful views, great beaches, mountains suitable for hiking, and, in the winter, playing in the snow and skiing. It has some of the best food from world cultures as you'll find anywhere. It has so many options for recreation, entertainment, museums, and other cultural enjoyments.

So why are people leaving?

Many reasons. 

We'll get into them over a series of subsequent posts.

For verification of the fact that people are leaving California, see this article from Ben Christopher from May 2021.

According to new data released today by the state Department of Finance, California’s population declined by 182,083 people in 2020. That’s the first time that annual statistic has come with a minus sign since 1900, when the department began collecting these estimates. 

The new report adds a disappointing coda to what has already been a dour few weeks for California’s demographers. Last week, the U.S. Census Bureau put out its decade-long population counts showing that though the state grew between 2010 and 2020, it did so at a slower rate than the rest of the country. 

Hence, that other bummer of a historical first: The state is losing a congressional seat. 

Too bad!

The state birth rate, which took a dip in 2020, has been on a gradual decline for years. 

The number of Californians who have left the state for more affordable corners of the union has also been a drag on the state’s head count for three decades. That “net-domestic outmigration” exceeded the number of new immigrants from around the world for the first time in 2018, according to Department of Finance estimates.

People are voting with their feet. 

The more dramatic “exodus” has not been from California to Florida, but from the Bay Area to the Central Valley and from Los Angeles to the Inland Empire.

Hint: Los Angeles and San Francisco are run by Leftist Democrats. 

But as the people who move to other parts of California are noticing, SF and LA pretty much control the entire state.