Californians who found themselves financially struggling in the state are leaving for much greener pastures, setting up their lives and their families in other states where they’re now thriving.
The residents fleeing CA are poorer inhabitants finding it hard to maintain their quality of life in the increasingly unaffordable state — but finding much improved circumstances after relocating, according to a new study.
Since the pandemic, the share of residents moving out of the state’s higher-income communities jumped dramatically to 19%, research from the University of California’s California Policy Lab shows.
The households leaving aren’t broke, but they’re struggling to make ends meet compared to their wealthier neighbors.
“The affordability gap has really widened over the last decade,” Evan White, executive director of the lab, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “That’s making it really difficult for people even making good money to get by.”
Matt Ingles, 41, was not poor by any means when he left Los Angeles for Dripping Springs, Texas, with his wife and two children in 2021 after eight years on the west coast — but with the high costs, he said it was easy to feel he and others were falling behind.
“I do notice in California, there is that wealth gap. I mean, there are just so many ultra rich people living in LA and San Francisco, and you have daily exposure to those people,” Ingles told the Post. “So maybe the perception, even if you’re doing well financially, is that you don’t have as much because there’s so many people you know living in abundance.”
He said the cost of living in Texas is significantly less than in California, with everything from gas to groceries. His family saves nearly $60,000 to $80,000 alone on education because the quality of public schools in Texas are good, while in California, he sent his children to private school.
“You just get way more bang for your buck in Texas than you do In California,” he said. “My quality of life here is significantly better. But that’s more than just finances.”
People exiting the state tended to have worse credit scores, sometimes with their credit cards maxed out. They had more auto loans, significantly higher student debt and were 10% less likely to own a home.
But when they finally left California, their outcomes improved — those who left were 11 percent more likely to own a home after leaving.
In contrast, people moving to California were only 6 percent more likely to own a home within seven years. During 2025, nearly 150,000 more people left the state than arrived.
Ingles said he could see why based on his own work in real estate.
“The affordability here is a huge piece of the housing market, and I see that with my clients that move here,” he said. “I mean, I have numerous clients that I’ve helped move here from California, and they’re astonished at what they can get for their money.”
All that points to the fact that California is increasingly become a state only for the well-off, researchers said.
High rents and housing costs are major factors that have kept people down. A separate study, also recently released, found that the average California household has about 35 percent less disposable income than the national average.
The reason? High taxes, high housing costs, and high energy costs.
Efforts by state Democrats to increase housing stock still haven’t made a dent.
New housing units built in the last five years have “not yet translated into meaningful relief for households struggling with high costs,” Hans Johnson, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, told the Chronicle.
The exodus of people can have serious consequences, the California Policy Lab said.
“If trends continue, the implications for California’s tax base and national political clout could be severe,” the report said. “For example, after losing one congressional seat in 2021, California is on track to lose three to four seats in Congress after the 2030 Census.”
