Cal State Online Fall 2020

[Merlin]

Why is EVERYONE Leaving CALIFORNIA?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjnrgWPxhbY

Cute video... it needs less singing though. That video would be more useful with data that backs up some of the claims. It would have been nice if they had included more information about who is leaving and why. Maybe some surveys or something.

Based on my own limited research, it seems like the majority of the people actively relocating out of California are from Orange County. I imagine that most of that is because of political reasons. The second-highest demographic of people leaving are probably people in the San Francisco bay area because of the ridiculous housing costs and overall high cost of living. I know my family often considers leaving for that reason. Right now is particularly bad since so many people are unemployed and now unable to make their lease/mortgage payments. California also loses a ton of people right after major earthquakes or wildfires.

That said, the job market attracts a ton of new people every year, so while more people are leaving than entering, the overall number of people leaving isn't that great when you normalize for population size. I'd be curious to see how California compares to other states on a percentage of population basis in terms of immigration vs emigration.

As it happens, after being back in CA for the last 10 years, my family will probably be leaving California later in the year--once it is safe to do so (re: Covid). However, this is due to a new business opportunity rather than for any of the reasons listed above.