Americans ‘Vote With Their Feet’ Away From California
California lost 361,623 residents and $20,915,598,000 in income to Texas
By Katy Grimes, July 29, 2025 11:57 am
One of the most startling trends in the United States today is the migration from high tax states to low or no-tax states.
I have covered California’s out-migration for many years, but have never seen it as serious as it is today.
California made the top of Allied Van Lines Company 2024 Allied US Migration Report – and unfortunately once again it’s for outbound migration. We are losing residents to other states, and not replenishing them with inbound migrants.
Just last week we reported on The Gavin Newsom Effect: U-Haul Reports Californians Leaving in Droves. U-Haul’s January report showed that more Californians rented one-way U-Haul trucks to leave the state in 2024 than residents of any other state.
In 2023 we reported California Loses Nearly 700,000 Residents Since 2020 – since Gavin Newsom has been governor.
But this California downward trend has legs, and goes back many years.
A California delegation visiting Texas legislators and Gov. Rick Perry are meeting with former California businesses now located in Texas. In a meeting with the Governor, California Assemblyman Dan Logue (R-Linda), organizer of the trip, said that businesses risked uprooting families along with the business, to move to Texas where they can compete nationally and globally, at a lower cost. “Last year California lost 1.2 million jobs while Texas created 163,000 new jobs,” said Logue.
“There’s a saying amongst business people,” said Logue, “ABC – anywhere but California.” And the reason for the trip said Logue, “is that in order to fix our budget and economy, California must address how to create jobs.”
Unfortunately, too many of those businesses were exiting California. Even in 2011, Texas was the top destination for departing California companies. Experts at Site Selection magazine awarded Texas the 2010 Governor’s Cup for most new and expanded corporate facilities. Texas had the nation’s top ranking with 424 projects while California ranked 15th with 127 projects.”
Even in 2010, Chief Executive magazine called California “the Venezuela of North America.” In the “Best and Worst States For Business 2010” issue, Chief Executive magazine reported, ‘“Texas is pro-business with reasonable regulations,” one CEO respondent remarked, “while California is anti-business with anti-business regulations.” Another CEO commented, “California is terrible. Even when we’ve paid their high taxes in full, they still treat every conversation as adversarial. It’s the most difficult state in the nation. We have actually walked away from business rather than deal with the government in Sacramento.”’
Deja vu, isn’t it?
Then and now, some of the reasons businesses leave California are:
Energy costs
High and unfair tax treatment
Regulatory burden
Unfriendly legal environment for business
Most expensive place to do business
Provable savings elsewhere
Public policies and taxes create unfriendly business climate
Uncontrollable public spending
More adversarial toward business than any other state
Poor rankings for California on lists ranging from taxes to crime rates to school dropout rates.
Former Trump Economic Advisor and Unleash Prosperity Founder Steve Moore, through his Unleash Prosperity group, just unveiled a new interactive report showing significant population and wealth loss in California, part of a growing trend of Americans — and their money — fleeing high-tax, heavily regulated states in search of affordability and economic freedom.
The new “Vote With Your Feet,” a first-of-its-kind visual mapping project, which focuses specifically on California and tracks where its residents are relocating, using the latest available data from the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Census Bureau.
Ouch. That’s going to leave a mark.
At the meeting and unveiling, Moore explained how the Northeast used to be the economic power for the country. But, approximately two years ago that shifted – the Southeast is now the domestic production powerhouse for the United States.
The states which used to be considered backwater states, are the economic powerhouse of the nation, Moore said.
And, as with California losing residents to lower tax states, the Northeast is losing population to Arkansas and Alabama, said Moore.
His new website, Vote With Your Feet, has an interactive US map showing how much population left one state to move to another. We clicked on California residents moving to Florida:
Holy smokes – not only did California lose 68,449 residents to Florida, those people took $11,703,535,000 personal income migration (aggregated gross income) with them. And this is just through 2022.
California lost significantly more residents and income to Texas.
California lost 361,623 residents and $20,915,598,000 income to Texas.
California lost 74,978 residents and $4,499,306,000 in income to Tennessee.
California lost 120,415 residents and $6,532,771,000 in income to Idaho.
California even lost 146,280 residents and $9,244,815,000 in income to Washington State, which has no income tax.
As Steve Moore noted, California and New York have suffered the biggest losses. “How do you screw up California?” Moore asked. “It’s beautiful. But for the first time in history, California is losing people after years and years of bad policies.”
“The coasts are not doing well,” he added.
The Top 10 States Which Gained the Most People:
| Number | State | Net Domestic Migration Gain |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | 1,591,626 |
| 2 | Texas | 1,268,227 |
| 3 | North Carolina | 520,615 |
| 4 | Arizona | 483,368 |
| 5 | South Carolina | 459,395 |
| 6 | Tennessee | 350,483 |
| 7 | Georgia | 337,752 |
| 8 | Nevada | 245,866 |
| 9 | Washington | 217,304 |
| 10 | Idaho | 197,567 |
The States Which Lost the Most People:
| Number | State | Net Domestic Migration Loss |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York | -1,757,720 |
| 2 | California | -1,632,774 |
| 3 | Illinois | -881,012 |
| 4 | New Jersey | -350,111 |
| 5 | Massachusetts | -283,838 |
| 6 | Pennsylvania | -181,662 |
| 7 | Maryland | -179,490 |
| 8 | Louisiana | -171,327 |
| 9 | Virginia | -120,209 |
| 10 | Connecticut | -117,465 |
Which States Lost the Most Money?
| Number | State | Money (Personal Income) Lost |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York | $-111,054,132,000 |
| 2 | California | $-102,446,753,000 |
| 3 | Illinois | $-63,478,115,000 |
| 4 | New Jersey | $-30,997,699,000 |
| 5 | Massachusetts | $-19,486,924,000 |
| 6 | Maryland | $-17,402,499,000 |
| 7 | Pennsylvania | $-16,509,051,000 |
| 8 | Ohio | $-15,283,959,000 |
| 9 | Virginia | $-14,054,141,000 |
| 10 | Connecticut | $-12,623,100,000 |
Which States Gained the Most Money?
| Number | State | Money (Personal Income) Gained |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | $195,559,163,000 |
| 2 | Texas | $54,467,206,000 |
| 3 | Arizona | $29,750,088,000 |
| 4 | North Carolina | $28,308,313,000 |
| 5 | South Carolina | $27,572,690,000 |
| 6 | Nevada | $21,599,692,000 |
| 7 | Tennessee | $19,756,511,000 |
| 8 | Colorado | $17,090,461,000 |
| 9 | Idaho | $11,119,254,000 |
| 10 | Washington | $10,970,192,000 |
The charts clearly show that the states losing the most people are also states with the highest income taxes. California has the highest income tax rate of 13.3%. Hawaii is at 11% and New York is at 10.9%, plus a nearly 4% tax in New York City.
This is why Gavin Newsom is acting out his most recent stunt – he’s plotting to abolish California’s voter-approved Citizens Redistricting Commission, and seize its powers for himself, as we reported Tuesday.
Nine states in the U.S. have no income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.
Lastly, Steve Moore warns that if as one Mayoral candidate is proposing to tax the rich in New York City, “You will lose Wall Street.”
Here is a quick video of the new Vote With Your Feet website:
Special guest Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, also spoke at the event specifically about Virginia’s recovery and economic growth since his election in 2022. “If you are shrinking you are running a deficit,” Youngkin. said of states losing population like California, New York and Illinois. “If you are growing, you have a surplus.”
Youngkin said states that are losing residents and running deficits raise taxes, only leading to more outbound migration.
“These are winner states and loser states.”
Youngkin noted that Virginia went from #40 in growth to #9 under his leadership. His secret? Tax cuts created inbound migration, and allowed more investment in the state’s businesses. “We have more people working than ever,” he said. “Out inbound migration is #5 in the nation.”
Youngkin said they have a budget surplus for the 4th year in a row. He added that his friend, Idaho Governor Brad Little, claims his economic program is the very best – it’s California.
A California native and Navy mom, Katy lives in Sacramento, CA.
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For you jazz afficianados, I read that this time of year, Cleveland has become just so awsome and friendly.
Both Cleveland and Cincinnati are controlled by Democrats and neither one seems to be awesome or friendly? If you enjoy going to jazz festivals and happen to be an older Caucasian, then Cincinnati should probably be avoided? There were multiple reports and viral videos of older White couples being attacked by groups of Black youths in Cincinnati after a jazz festival ended. Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge scolded reporters telling them that were “missing context” by shining the spotlight on viral footage of a Black mob attacking older White couples in downtown Cincinnati. Interestingly, she’s currently being sued for discrimination, allegedly favoring women and minorities over merit-based criteria when making assignment decisions. Elon Musk suggested that Cincinnati’s Police Chief should either clarify the “missing context” or resign. (https://www.zerohedge.com/political/musk-cincinnati-police-chief-clarify-missing-context-or-resign)
What? NO mention of the absolute DESTRUCTION of the residential INSURANCE MARKET in California, thanks to a DEI-hire Insurance Commissioner, whose only claim to fame is his sexual proclivities, without any regard to his abolute LACK of business or actuarial acumen, which has created NO END of problems for California homeowners, or those who WISH to BECOME homeowners, as most commercial insurers have fled the state.
We are therefore FORCED to insure our homes through the “FAIR Plan”, another Government MIS-managed entity, which only adds to the anxiety felt by those also insured through the California Earthquake Authority….
We are literally one earthquake or wildfire (risk-enhanced, thanks to DEMOCRAT policies that do not include PREVENTATIVE brush clearing or controlled-burns to mitigate the fuel-load) away from losing EVERYTHING….
And people wonder why California residents are saying “EFF it – we’re OUTTA here!!!”
Califreaks, DON’T Californicate Texas.
Go fitch yourself, we’re coming!
The states run by democrats will eventually have to build walls around their states to keep citizens from leaving. Jokul New York’s governor is why we left.
Newsom and legislative Democrats’ taxpayer funded welfare and giveaway programs have turned the state into a ghettoized mecca for illegals and irresponsible moochers from around the country and the world who receive taxpayer funded housing, transit passes, food, medical care, education and now even pet care in Democrat controlled cities like Sacramento. How long can these Democrat giveaway programs continue when more and more productive Californians and businesses are leaving the state?
Literally every red state is a welfare state. Your ruling elite convinced you to vote your rights away to give it to corporations. They’ve dismantled public institutions under the guide of freedoms and you’re suffering for it. you’re the dumbest fattest, most crime ridden states in the country.
Mississippi’s gun violence is 3x that of Chicago’s.
Biden when asked why he spent so much money of the 1.4 trillion dollar build back plan was going to red states he said, “because they need it most”. Now your pedophile in chief is shutting down all those public works projects.
You conservatives played yourselves, your kids and your grandkids.
You let alt-right conservative boomer fucks like Katy Grimes ruin the future of your families.
@Phil “Mississippi’s gun violence is 3x that of Chicago’s.”
That’s a lie.
Gun Death Rate per 100,000 2022
Mississippi 28.6
Chicago 26.6
That’s not three times higher for Mississippi. It’s not even close. It’s nearly the same.
Well that wasn’t very friendly.
Better than letting idiots like you do it!
Some ugly irrefutable facts about California under Newsom and Marxist Democrats:
California—not Mississippi, New Mexico, or West Virginia—has the highest poverty rate in the United States.
California has about 12% of the U.S. population, but it has around one-third of the nation’s welfare recipients. Californians made up 38% of families receiving benefits under the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and accounted for nearly a third of all cash aid recipients nationwide under the state’s CalWORKs program.
California has the largest percentage of illegal aliens in the country numbering in the millions with over a million in LA alone. They take jobs and housing away from legal Californians while being a burden on taxpayers.
California’s unemployment rate was 5.4% in June 2025, tying with Nevada for the highest in the nation, well above the national average of 4.1%.
California’s homeless population accounts for approximately 30% of the entire U.S. homeless population, making it the state with the highest number of homeless individuals and LA is the city with the highest homeless population in the country with approximately 75,000 people experiencing homelessness.
With a crime rate of 37 per one thousand residents, Democrat controlled Los Angeles has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes – from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One’s chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime in LA is one in 27.
California once again had a significant budget deficit, with the state’s Legislative Analyst Office estimating a $68 billion shortfall in the 2024-25 budget. California has the largest amount of unfunded government pension liabilities of any state, totaling over $1.5 trillion. The state’s budget has been affected by the loss of jobs and population, with California losing more than 410,000 jobs since 2020.
A study by the California Policy Center suggests that California’s state and local governments are about $1.0 trillion in debt. Almost all California cities have budget deficits and below are the major cities that reported huge initial budget deficits:
(1) Los Angeles: Facing a $1 billion deficit for the 2025-26 fiscal year, leading to a declared state of fiscal emergency and planned cuts including over 600 public sector jobs, notably 248 LAPD employees, 44 sanitation workers, and 41 firefighters.
(2) San Francisco: Projected to have an $876 million budget deficit, with previous estimates during the pandemic suggesting potential shortfalls between $1.1 billion and $1.7 billion over two years, straining city finances and reserves.
(3) San Diego: Facing a budget deficit exceeding $300 million, with earlier reports citing a $250 million shortfall linked to costs from housing homeless individuals and declining tourism revenues.
(4) Sacramento: Experiencing a $66 million budget deficit. (Despite that huge budget deficit, Democrats who control Sacramento used taxpayer funds to operate a mobile veterinary clinic that only treats the animals of the homeless)
(5) San Jose: Projecting a $52.9 million deficit for 2026, after adjusting earlier projections of up to $60 million, reflecting ongoing financial pressures in the city.
(6) Fresno: Anticipating a budget deficit of over $20 million in its 2026 budget, despite expecting a surplus in 2025 due to federal aid, highlighting future fiscal uncertainty.
(7) Oakland: Facing a $268 million deficit over the next two fiscal years, with its school district also listed among those in significant fiscal difficulty.
(8) Berkeley: Reporting a $28 million budget deficit.
It’s not a bright future for legal Californians and their families who pay the highest taxes in the country and continue to experience a steep decline in the quality of their lives thanks to Newsom and Marxist Democrats.
California’s students continue to rank among the lowest in national education testing for mathematics and language skills. California has the lowest literacy rate in the country, with 23.1% of adults lacking basic prose literacy skills, making it the most illiterate state. According to data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), an estimated 28% of adults in California have poor literacy in English, struggling to do anything more complicated than filling out a basic form or reading a short text.
California also has the most diverse population in the country, with more than 200 languages spoken, and programs to teach English to children whose parents speak another language at home have shown little success.
Only 10% of students in English acquisition programs display grade-level proficiency, which is a significant problem in a state with 1 million English learners among a student population of about 6 million.
Nice posts TJ.
California has the lowest high school graduation rate in the nation for 2025 at 84.6%. The highest is Montana at 94.6% The national average is 89.4%.
Thank you!
I got a job in California back in the 90s that lasted about five years and by then the cost of living had gotten so high that I was going the wrong way I was slowly going broke although my wages went up every year but not enough to keep me from slowly going the wrong way and so one day I quit the job and moved out unfortunately I moved to Colorado now it is worse than California as for the state government Now we are fixing to move out of this communist hell hole. The people who moved here from California voted in the same crap that they left California for
It’s an illness…they can’t help themselves.
My biggest incentive to get out of California was not just the current conditions but the talk of them wanting to tax people that leave for an additional 10 years. That one scared the shit out of me and if adopted. Likely I would be trapped there never to leave. I know its just talk but if they’re talking about it, its in the wings waiting for the right time. Luckily we were able to get out last year after many years of planning. We went to the southeast and are loving it. As a matter of fact we have some old CA neighbors visiting us from Texas today.