EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — More Californians are leaving for greener pastures than out-of-state residents are moving in. That trend is nothing new, but the demographics of who is leaving is.
LA Times economics reporter Don Lee examined the migration data and joined Lisa McRee on “LA Times Today.”
California has lost about 750,000 people in the last few years to other states, but Lee explained the demographics and economic standing of those former Californians is changing.
“In years past, the tendency has been that California would lose more relatively lower-income people, people with less education than those coming into the state. That, in recent years, has reversed. We’ve had tens of thousands more that are better educated and have higher incomes leaving than those that have come in,” Lee said.
Lee explained that the cost of housing is one factor in peoples’ decisions to leave California, but it is not the only one.
“One other factor to remember is the rise of people being able to work from home. If you’re in the Bay Area in particular, and you can take your big salary job and cross state lines to Nevada, or if you want, to Texas. I talked to somebody who left for Texas because his bosses have moved there and because Texas doesn’t have state income taxes, among other factors,” Lee said. “We’re [also] hearing more people talk about the social conditions, changes in their lifestyle, whether it’s too crowded or they don’t like the political climate.”
Taxes on California’s wealthiest residents help keep the state’s coffers full. Lee discussed the impact of people like Elon Musk taking their high earnings to other states.
“The top 1% of tax filers in California account for 40% to 45% of all the personal income tax revenue. So when people like Elon leave, it really is felt and we’ve had more upper income people leave California than in past years,” Lee said.
