The California Book of Exoduses

For the first time in its history, California experienced a loss in population in 2020. The trend continued into 2022, by which time California had lost more than a half-million people in two years. 

But while California’s extreme COVID policies that shuttered businesses and schools accelerated the California Exodus, the trend existed long before the pandemic. Since 2010, only 5.8 million people moved to California from other parts of the country, while approximately 7.5 million people moved from California to other states. According to California Department of Finance estimates, the Golden State has lost residents to other states every year since 2001. The population shift resulted in California losing a Congressional seat for the first time in its history after the 2020 census.

U-Haul’s annually published data illustrates the migration trends clearly. In 2022, California ranked dead last (50th place) on the moving company’s migration trends list, meaning the state saw the greatest net loss of one-way U-Haul trucks. And California has been at the bottom of Uhaul’s list for many years. Meanwhile, Texas and Florida have ranked in the top three spots on the growth index for the last six years.

At the California Policy Center, we launched the California Exodus Project to track the people and businesses leaving the state as well as the factors driving the trend: California’s high tax burden, over-regulation that strangles businesses of all sizes, poor public schools performance and an ever-increasing cost of living to name a few. 

And it’s not just working families leaving the state. Major companies are moving their headquarters and production facilities to other states, many citing lower tax burdens and fewer regulations as well as employees’ demand. Others are leaving California due to high crime rates and a woke political culture that has become unsustainable. 

If you have an entry you believe should be added to the tracker, please fill out this form HERE.

You can explore a full version of California Policy Center’s Book of Exoduses tracking businesses and notable figures leaving the state Here.