Why are people leaving California?

Native Californian. Where would I go, I don't know. But I'd sure be looking if I wasn't trapped here by my stepfather. He doesn't seem to care. Things are in place for him.
 

Native Texan here. Only lived out of state for a couple of years when in graduate school in Louisiana in the late 70’s. Returned to Texas because jobs payed so much better and to be more available to my elderly parents. Now I’m retired, parents are deceased, and no family that I care to visit closer than 4 hours away. Yes, the California folks are coming in droves which is fine with me. They seem to be settling in the bigger cities or in the Hill Country but I’m sure they will discover my little city soon enough.
 
Remy said:
Native Californian. Where would I go, I don't know. But I'd sure be looking if I wasn't trapped here by my stepfather. He doesn't seem to care. Things are in place for him.
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I never noticed any posts where you explained what that meant...
Not meaning to be nosy, just concerned.
 

mrstime said:
Maybe because it is so expensive to live there. I have 2 cousins there but both have probably paid their homes off some years ago.
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That's the reason I left. I had no interest in buying a house, but it was impossible to find an affordable rental.
I noticed a place I'd lived in decades earlier had been taken over by large real estate corp. instead of private landlords. It wasn't long before I noticed blocks of apartment buildings were empty- people couldn't afford to live there.

I think CA will regret not having rent control, as it will increase homelessness and increase the numbers of people that need government assistance to survive.
 
Jobs. CA may be paradise, but it's hell without cash. Same goes for anyplace. People have been following jobs throughout history. Ain't nothing new. Yeah, CA is expensive to live, but the average paycheck is also heftier. When I moved out of NYC to Pennsylvania, my salary dropped in half, but so did the cost of living.
 
For some proportion, let's look at actual numbers.
CA lost 117,552 people in 2021, leaving a population that remains well over 39 million. (Numbers that seem shocking on their own are a lot less so when seen in context.) California's population declined a whopping 3/10s of one percent in 2021.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/02/california-population-decline-trend-covid

This change wasn't newsworthy, life changing or even noticeable to people living here. (For people on this thread who live in counties of 10,000 population, that would be a net loss of 30 people. Would you consider that a signal of an impending mass exodus?)

It's not my intent to sound snarky, but most Californians are fine with the idea of a reduction or leveling off of our population. If people want to leave, we're cool with that. If they want to take some friends with them, better still. Real estate prices can only come down to earth when demand lessens. Traffic won't ease until there are fewer people are on the roads.

When the Rose Parade is broadcast throughout the country and many parts of the world every January 1st, many Californians pray for bad weather in hopes of not enticing more folks to move here.
 
Blessed said:
Interesting but not surprising, I have not been there in 35 years even then it was just a drive by visit, flew into Sacramento, rented a car to go up to Lake Tahoe. I have a BIL and his family there outside of San Francisco. I could never see the big draw. They took all their retirement money and built a million dollar home that they could have here for about 400,000. Made no sense to me. They are not on the beach, yes they can drive to SanFran in about 90 minutes, but come on.

Why not come to Texas where they could still have the house with a pool and buy a lake house in addition. It is going to get really crowded here in Texas. I don't have a new home but is big 4/3/2/2 and in a prime location. We only paid 90M when we bought it. My son will either move in or sell it for a good return. The word is out and people are coming and loving it.
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Born in Anaheim, California 1951, At 25 yrs moved to Oregon loved it wanted to retire there when that time came, Now it is too expensive for me, three yrs later moved to Seattle Area, loved it, tho too wet, ten yrs later back to CA bay area and raised two daughters, loved it, moved to Austin, Texas loved it. Back to S. Cal. for two years, back to bay area to be near my Kids and theirs. It's definitely more expensive here. But, it is nice in NorCal. Bottom line as they say, "Home is where the heart is".
 
Blessed said:
Interesting but not surprising, I have not been there in 35 years even then it was just a drive by visit, flew into Sacramento, rented a car to go up to Lake Tahoe. I have a BIL and his family there outside of San Francisco. I could never see the big draw. They took all their retirement money and built a million dollar home that they could have here for about 400,000. Made no sense to me. They are not on the beach, yes they can drive to SanFran in about 90 minutes, but come on.

Why not come to Texas where they could still have the house with a pool and buy a lake house in addition. It is going to get really crowded here in Texas. I don't have a new home but is big 4/3/2/2 and in a prime location. We only paid 90M when we bought it. My son will either move in or sell it for a good return. The word is out and people are coming and loving it.
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I moved from California 4 years ago. The politics sucked but the geography was awesome! Yosemite was God's country! I loved the beaches and mountains and even the desert had some charm..I appreciated the desert on our many drives to Las Vegas :) Mostly I miss the mountains...I am in Florida now solely because my daughter is here. I will say Florida beaches are IMO superior to California's I have relatives still in CA...lived there many years...
I also lived for 2 years in Dallas and have wonderful feelings about Texas!
 
Funnily enough, I have just been reading about this. It seems decent people are leaving California because there are so many homeless there. They set up home under bridges and underpasses; the trouble they cause and the mess they make devalues the local property, so people sell up and move out.
 
I have lived in California, for over 60 years and I would not live anywhere else. The best thing I did when I retired was to move out of that cesspool called LA county. We live in the best kept secret on the Central Coast. People are so busy driving from LA to Santa Barbara they whiz right past us.
No matter where you live in the US, there are environmental problems; Northwest, rain Southeast. hurricanes, Midwest, tornadoes, California earthquakes, North cold winters.
People decide what they want to put up with.
 
A daily news example today of our inept California government in action that is driving numbers of frustrated natives and long time citizens away. Reading the news Comments reflects how an overwhelming majority here are utterly disgusted.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/california-alleged-drug-traffickers-massive-173633770.html
snippets:

"Two accused drug traffickers busted with 150,000 fentanyl pills during a California traffic stop last month failed to show in court Thursday after being released on cashless bail. Defendants Jose Zendejas, 25, and Benito Madrigal, 19 – released on their own recognizance less than 24 hours after their arrest with the large stash of illicit drugs – were scheduled to appear for their arraignments at the Tulare County Courthouse in central California Thursday morning, but failed both men failed to show face.The judge called for Zendejas and Madrigal – both [allegedly] from Washington state – who were not in court, and the warrant for their arrest continues...

The problem is once again the legislature and the state of California are trying to go down some social experiment born on the back of law-abiding citizens," Ward said. "I go out on a limb and say that had these defendants been subject to the million bail that was in place when they were arrested, and they made bail based on that amount, they would have some skin in the game, some financial obligation and motivation to return to court."

Example Comments:

"Oh, yes, your honor, we PROMISE to come back to our next hearing, so you can sentence us to jail." They probably left skid marks in the street driving off back to Mexico!

They'll "pop up" all right.....somewhere in Guadalajara.
 
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Lavinia said:
Funnily enough, I have just been reading about this. It seems decent people are leaving California because there are so many homeless there. They set up home under bridges and underpasses; the trouble they cause and the mess they make devalues the local property, so people sell up and move out.
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This is everywhere. I live in a small town in Canada.
 
Because it's too darned expensive. The price young people are willing to pay for mediocre houses in San Francisco is draw dropping. Then there's the commute. I have a friend who sometimes calls me when she's on the highway and it never fails that the cursing starts. 😆 Crazy drivers...crazy traffic. Very interesting video Dseag. The prices the young man talks about are insane! All certainly good reasons to leave the state.
 
StarSong said:
Truly decent people are concerned about the homeless and attempting to solve the problem.
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We really, really and I mean really need to do something. I don't know what though. They have put up small little room housing in my county. Communal toilet facilities. I'm not sure how much of it is being utilized.

Also this insane increase in home prices needs to be looked at. I don't know how they would do it. Supply and demand. But it is also my understanding that investors (many foreign) buy up property in large quantities, making available real estate for regular people at a higher premium.
 
Remy said:
We really, really and I mean really need to do something. I don't know what though. They have put up small little room housing in my county. Communal toilet facilities. I'm not sure how much of it is being utilized.

Also this insane increase in home prices needs to be looked at. I don't know how they would do it. Supply and demand. But it is also my understanding that investors (many foreign) buy up property in large quantities, making available real estate for regular people at a higher premium.
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Sad to say that unbridled capitalism is an economic, environmental and social experiment that's proving to be disastrous for large swaths of the country's and planet's population.
 
Right Now said:
California is a beautiful state, as are all of ours. One of the largest populations means more of everything. More homes, more freeways, more traffic congestion to get anywhere, long lines, crowed beaches, resorts, outrageous prices for even medium sized homes.
Now more than ever, because of climate change, disastrous mudslides, wildfires, earthquakes......
Too much constant stress in living in CA has finally reached the breaking points of citizens who wish to have a day or two a year without crisis, drama, and immediate danger to their neighborhoods and homes.
I get it.
I will add that Texas is a poor second choice considering heat, fires, drought, heavy population, gun laws, abortion laws, and the list goes on. Oh, did I mention snakes!
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Sorry, but I don't agree that Texas is a poor second choice. We moved to Dallas from South Florida 16 years ago and love the quality of life here. Even though we've seen an influx of people from other states, overall the people are still nice here and aside from the brutal summers the weather is decent. We have access to museums, plays, musicals, great restaurants, etc. anytime we want.

I agree with you re: some of the laws, but most of the big cities in TX are more liberal, Dallas included. You have to live in a "bubble" here, but we're okay with that.
 

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