Lots Of People Leaving California? (Los Angeles, San Diego: transplants, sale, 2013)

[BabyBoomers2]

Originally Posted by saibot

You'll have to be more specific about what "California people changing things" means.

If you're talking about politics/culture, the people who are leaving California for political or cultural reasons are mostly on the conservative side.

If you're talking about inflated housing prices, that's on the people in those other towns who are selling. But if you were selling a house, wouldn't you want it to go to the highest bidder?

If you just think there are now too many people in your town, well, join the club.

Anyway, lots of people may be leaving California, but I certainly am not seeing a lot of empty houses or a big decrease in traffic around here.

Above (in red) is what I was thinking. My SIL (wife's sister who lives in Ontario, CA) keeps telling us about all of the people that are leaving the L.A., and even Orange County, areas. But, I ask her "do you see a difference in the traffic or empty homes/apartments? The answer, from me to her is "no you don't".

One of the major things the "working class" folks move around for is to find jobs, and very good paying jobs at that. Henderson and Vegas both have that.

What the old/older Generation is disliking is the lifestyle change that can/does happen. Both, where we lived in Colorado and here in Henderson/Vegas, the lifestyle is getting very faced-paced. The newcomers have changed a, what locals call "very nice town/smaller city" into Los Angeles or even Denver. I use to work a mile from downtown Denver, from early 2003 thru Oct 2007 and it has changed tremendously today.

The old/older Generation says, "You like the fast-paced lifestyle, stay where you are. We don't want that here". But, that isn't what's been happening. The word "progress" comes in and takes over.

[BabyBoomers2]

Originally Posted by Threestep2

And what do you base the age/length of residency statement on?

Basically, Millennials back to the end of the Baby Boomer Generation (1964), or so.

[BabyBoomers2]

Originally Posted by NORTY FLATZ

If 817,000 is defines as "lots," then "lots" is accurate.

Well, considering the entire population of all of California, 817,000, isn't many. I guess. But, here in Henderson, we are seeing a whole lot of California license plates. Either those driving those vehicles don't register them here, which is very common today, or more California people are moving in and can't get an appointment with DMV very fast to transfer registration (like us).

[odds_get_evened]

I just recently left California, and I can give you some ground-based points as to why, to which maybe others who formerly lived there can relate. The cost of living in California is unreasonable for middle-income workers. I've had multiple Californians say to me that under $100K a year is considered low income. I was one of those people earning under $100K a year, and it was hard to save money, and keep up with basic expenses. The cost of rent alongside the costs of homes is astronomically high. When I was house hunting, after about 3 months of not finding a single affordable home, I went directly to looking for homes in other states, with lower costs of living, price points under $300K, larger parcels of land, taxes so low they aren't even comparable to CA, and the same work salaries, that would help me save and build more equity. If you live in CA now, unless you are making six figures or more, the reality is it is a very nice place to live, but not affordable in any way.

[BabyBoomers2]

Originally Posted by odds_get_evened

I just recently left California, and I can give you some ground-based points as to why, to which maybe others who formerly lived there can relate. The cost of living in California is unreasonable for middle-income workers. I've had multiple Californians say to me that under $100K a year is considered low income. I was one of those people earning under $100K a year, and it was hard to save money, and keep up with basic expenses. The cost of rent alongside the costs of homes is astronomically high. When I was house hunting, after about 3 months of not finding a single affordable home, I went directly to looking for homes in other states, with lower costs of living, price points under $300K, larger parcels of land, taxes so low they aren't even comparable to CA, and the same work salaries, that would help me save and build more equity. If you live in CA now, unless you are making six figures or more, the reality is it is a very nice place to live, but not affordable in any way.

Then again, there are STILL so many people living in all of California, including L.A. and Orange County.
Researching this online, it states:
There are 3.899 million people in the city of Los Angeles currently and the entire metro area has 12,534,000 people in 2023. That is up 0.37% increase since 2022. So, even though it really seems like a lot of folks are moving out of that area.................

[saibot]

Originally Posted by odds_get_evened

I just recently left California, and I can give you some ground-based points as to why, to which maybe others who formerly lived there can relate. The cost of living in California is unreasonable for middle-income workers. I've had multiple Californians say to me that under $100K a year is considered low income. I was one of those people earning under $100K a year, and it was hard to save money, and keep up with basic expenses. The cost of rent alongside the costs of homes is astronomically high. When I was house hunting, after about 3 months of not finding a single affordable home, I went directly to looking for homes in other states, with lower costs of living, price points under $300K, larger parcels of land, taxes so low they aren't even comparable to CA, and the same work salaries, that would help me save and build more equity. If you live in CA now, unless you are making six figures or more, the reality is it is a very nice place to live, but not affordable in any way.

I do completely get this and I have several friends who were in the same position. Most of them are happy where they are now; a few really wish they could come back and I find that very unfortunate.

I bolded your last sentence because it is key. Lots of people may be leaving California for financial and other reasons but the fact of the matter is, that because it IS such a nice place to live, there are always plenty of other people with higher salaries/net worth who are happy to move in. The mental image I think some people have of California being drained of people is completely wrong.

And those of us who are fortunate enough to be able to afford it are not really tempted by the thought of cheaper living elsewhere. We might be able to save more money there, but we'd have to give up a lot that we are not willing to give up. Money isn't everything. So we stay.

[njbiodude]

Originally Posted by saibot

I do completely get this and I have several friends who were in the same position. Most of them are happy where they are now; a few really wish they could come back and I find that very unfortunate.

I bolded your last sentence because it is key. Lots of people may be leaving California for financial and other reasons but the fact of the matter is, that because it IS such a nice place to live, there are always plenty of other people with higher salaries/net worth who are happy to move in. The mental image I think some people have of California being drained of people is completely wrong.

And those of us who are fortunate enough to be able to afford it are not really tempted by the thought of cheaper living elsewhere. We might be able to save more money there, but we'd have to give up a lot that we are not willing to give up. Money isn't everything. So we stay.

This has been going on since before WW2. Aldous Huxley’s Book After Many a Summer addresses the illusion of the CA dream and it was written in the 1930s.

I make enough money personally and own a home already but am looking at leaving before my oldest reaches high school (certainly the Bay Area). The schools are lousy (less than 1/4 read or do math at grade level) and full of indoctrination nonsense. These are in areas where home values are well over a million dollars but despite all the tax revenue the local government can’t get its act together. In my town our water system is on the verge of collapse too. Crime is also high and there was a recent high profile case of a delivery driver being kidnapped. More and more it’s hard not to see this area turning into a third world dump. If you can’t afford gated homes and private schools it’s increasingly not worth it.

On a positive note all the house equity and extra IRA contributions will make me wealthier wherever else I decide to go.

[JGC97]

Lots of people leaving and lots of people coming. It all balances out. If it didn't, we'd see more empty houses and apartments but that isn't the case. There's still a shortage of properties and will remain that way until there's more development or fewer people on the planet.

[beach43ofus]

Originally Posted by HereOnMars

Lots of people leaving and lots of people coming. It all balances out. If it didn't, we'd see more empty houses and apartments but that isn't the case. There's still a shortage of properties and will remain that way until there's more development or fewer people on the planet.

No it doesn't. Cali's lost a net of 3,500,000 residents since 2000 (net dometic migration in vs. out)..roughly the population of Connecticut.

https://www.newgeography.com/content...hanging-trends

You are not noticing it because its only ~9% of the total population of California.

If the trend continues, you will start to notice it at some point because Cali's birth rate has also fallen a lot:

https://www.axios.com/local/san-dieg...w%20CDC%20data.

Cali does replace a lot of lost residents w/ immigrants from abroad however.

[JGC97]

If it's not then, why aren't there more empty units? Someone's living there. I'm not being confrontational, just curious as to an explanation. And seriously, you're using the year 2000 as a gauge? That's nearly quarter of a century ago. How about a number that's in this decade. I'm sure the entire country's population has increased since 2000, and people moved around.