Trading California for Texas: What Leaving the Golden State Looks Like

An illuminating Los Angeles Times piece goes deeper into a persistent trope in recent years: that people flee California in droves, heading to places like Texas.

For the article, Times data reporter Terry Castleman starts by looking at the numbers, which found that while 476,000 people moved to California in 2022, 818,000 Californians left the state. And more than 100,000 of these people headed to the Lone Star State, making it the most common destination for former Californians.

Castleman’s article wasn’t just about data, though. He talks to former Californians now living in Texas and charts their reasons for decamping, from financial to political. He also looks at what economic impacts the moves are having, with one college professor telling him, “Some people blame Californians for driving up housing prices, particularly in the city of Austin.”

All in all, it makes for an interesting read.

Read the entire article, “Droves of Californians are moving to Texas. Here’s the life they are finding,” on LATimes.com.