California Business Exodus For Friendlier States Continues
53 Headquarters businesses left San Francisco
By Katy Grimes, January 29, 2024 12:06 pm
Most Californians know why California businesses are fleeing the once-Golden State in droves. Small, medium and large businesses are packing up and moving to business friendlier states for lower taxes, fewer regulations, and affordable housing for their employees. And they are moving because they are rewarded for being in business by other states – unlike California, which makes it as painful as possible to do business in this state.
Chief Executive Magazine reports annually on the Best and Worst States for Business. Predictably, in their Best and Worst of 2023, California is ranked number #50 – again:
Texas again places No. 1 this year, as it has annually in the survey since its inception. Florida ranked No. 2 again, extending its own string but also putting unprecedented pressure on Texas for the top spot. Tennessee once again is ranked No. 3 in state business climate by CEOs. North Carolina, at No. 4, and No. 5 Arizona flipped spots this year. No. 6 Indiana is a mainstay as well.
Just as CEOs have solidified opinions about the welcoming top states, their assessment of the worst has ossified: No. 47 New Jersey, No. 48 Illinois, No. 49 New York and No. 50 California remain the same as in the 2022 survey.
Henry O’Loughlin of BuildRemote.co reported in December, “53 Headquarters Have Left San Francisco Since 2020. Where did they go? San Francisco businesses moved to Arizona, Utah, Virginia, Florida, and most to Texas. And 10 of those businesses moved in 2023.”
“Ruiz Foods isn’t the only large company to move their corporate headquarters to Texas in recent years. Tesla, for example, relocated their headquarters to Texas. Exxon Mobil, AT&T, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise are just a few of many household names who moved to the Lone Star State.”
As the Globe reported in May Buildremote.co lists why companies leave California:
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Finding a place that is “easier to hire talent“
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In search of a “great talent pool” (in the new city and state)
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Seeking a “more sustainable place to do business“
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There is an “increasing intolerance and monoculture of Silicon Valley“
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Seeking “a strong economic climate with low taxes, reasonable regulations and a high-caliber workforce”
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Moving for “our business needs, opportunities for cost savings, and team members”
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There were “some symmetries in the way that the Bay Area works that just didn’t really work well for us”
- “Arizona provided the ideal conditions of being business-friendly, offering a high quality of life at reasonable cost”
- Employees can be homeowners in Texas, “which in the Bay Area is virtually impossible”
- “In California, local rules could dictate how the company chooses board members, for instance”
The Globe did a series of interviews of Californians who left for other states, and why. Some were personal and family decisions, others were business decisions, and all expressed frustration with California’s exceedingly high cost of living and hostility to businesses.
BuildReport.co has the listing of Companies That Left California: 2020 – 2023:
A | B | C | D | |
1 | Company | Destination | Source | Year |
2 | Hodge | Iowa | November 3 | 2023 |
3 | Noble 33 | Florida | October 31 | 2023 |
4 | QuickFee | Texas | October 20 | 2023 |
5 | Advantage Solutions | Missouri | October 12 | 2023 |
6 | Oak View Group | Colorado | September 27 | 2023 |
7 | Anaplan | Florida | September 14 | 2023 |
8 | Thermomix | Texas | August 25 | 2023 |
9 | Hero Digital | Illinois | August 23 | 2023 |
10 | Fireside | Florida | August 15 | 2023 |
11 | Unical Aviation | Arizona | July 19 | 2023 |
12 | Skillz | Nevada | June 8 | 2023 |
13 | Ruiz Foods | Texas | May 24 | 2023 |
14 | Cacique Foods | Texas | May 14 | 2023 |
15 | Kelly-Moore Paints | Texas | April 25 | 2023 |
16 | Redaptive | Colorado | April 13 | 2023 |
17 | Inbenta | Texas | March 9 | 2023 |
18 | Landsea Homes | Texas | March 7 | 2023 |
19 | Garcia Hand Picked | (Multiple locations) | January 29 | 2023 |
20 | McAfee | Texas | January 20 | 2023 |
21 | Bluevine | New Jersey | January 9 | 2023 |
22 | Boingo Wireless | Texas | December 20 | 2022 |
23 | Lucas Oil Products | Indiana | November 1 | 2022 |
24 | Home Franchise Concepts | Texas | October 29 | 2022 |
25 | Allspring Global Investments | North Carolina | October 20 | 2022 |
26 | Trimble | Colorado | October 6 | 2022 |
27 | Virta Health Corp | Colorado | October 3 | 2022 |
28 | Obagi
Cosmeceuticals |
Texas | September 21 | 2022 |
29 | American Airlines
(*Flight Attendant Base, only) |
(Multiple locations) | September 15 | 2022 |
30 | Belong | Florida | September 6 | 2022 |
31 | Anything Liquid Manufacturing Inc. | Texas | July 25 | 2022 |
32 | Chevron | Texas | June 29 | 2022 |
33 | Aviatrix | Texas | May 5 | 2022 |
34 | HBCU Hub | Texas | April 27 | 2022 |
35 | Boring Co. | Texas | April 18 | 2022 |
36 | Sendoso | Arizona | April 12 | 2022 |
37 | Ovation Fertility | Tennessee | February 15 | 2022 |
38 | Hyperion | Ohio | February 2 | 2022 |
39 | Marrone Bio Innovations | North Carolina | January 6 | 2022 |
40 | Review Wave | Texas | January 5 | 2022 |
41 | Science 37 | North Carolina | December 22 | 2021 |
42 | FICO | Montana | November 1 | 2021 |
43 | Nexen Tire | Ohio | October 28 | 2021 |
44 | Hall Technologies | Texas | October 18 | 2021 |
45 | Tesla | Texas | October 7 | 2021 |
46 | First Foundation Bank | Texas | September 26 | 2021 |
47 | Flexible Funding | Texas | August 27 | 2021 |
48 | GlobalFoundries | New York | August 26 | 2021 |
49 | HomeLight | Arizona | August 24 | 2021 |
50 | NinjaOne | Texas | August 17 | 2021 |
51 | AECOM | Texas | August 17 | 2021 |
52 | MD7 | Texas | August 11 | 2021 |
53 | Kaiser Aluminum | Tennessee | July 29 | 2021 |
54 | Smart Wires, Inc. | North Carolina | July 27 | 2021 |
55 | Wiley X | Texas | June 29 | 2021 |
56 | F45 | Texas | June 21 | 2021 |
57 | Edelbrock Group | Mississippi | June 15 | 2021 |
58 | Landing | Alabama | June 10 | 2021 |
59 | Snowflake | Montana/
Remote |
May 26 | 2021 |
60 | Wedgewood LLC | Texas | May 18 | 2021 |
61 | GemCap | Texas | May 17 | 2021 |
62 | Green Dot Corporation | Texas | May 7 | 2021 |
63 | Education Media Foundation (EMF) | Tennessee | March 24 | 2021 |
64 | Viavi Solutions | Arizona | February 10 | 2021 |
65 | Align Technology | Arizona | January 22 | 2021 |
66 | Digital Realty | Texas | January 14 | 2021 |
67 | Lion Real Estate Group | Texas | January 7 | 2021 |
68 | OPSWAT | Florida | January 4 | 2021 |
69 | Charles Schwab | Texas | January 1 | 2021 |
70 | TaskUs Inc. | Texas | January 1 | 2021 |
71 | Maddox Defense | Texas | December 31 | 2020 |
72 | Oracle | Texas | December 11 | 2020 |
73 | Regroup Mass Notification | Texas | December 8 | 2020 |
74 | Tanium | Washington | December 2 | 2020 |
75 | Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) | Texas | December 1 | 2020 |
76 | SmartDraw Software | Texas | November 16 | 2020 |
77 | CBRE Group | Texas | October 29 | 2020 |
78 | Arctic Wolf | Minnesota | October 22 | 2020 |
79 | Pabst Brewing | Texas | October 7 | 2020 |
80 | O. W. Lee | Texas | September 23 | 2020 |
81 | Incora | Texas | September 15 | 2020 |
82 | Palantir | Colorado | August 19 | 2020 |
83 | DZS (Dasan Zhone Solutions) | Texas | August 3 | 2020 |
84 | Varo Bank | Utah | July 25 | 2020 |
85 | Sonim Technologies | Texas | June 3 | 2020 |
86 | XO (XO Jets) | Florida | January 27 | 2020 |
87 | ASGN Incorporated | Virginia | January 26 | 2020 |
88 | QuestionPro | Texas | January 21 | 2020 |
89 | NortonLifeLock (Symantec) | Arizona | January 14 | 2020 |
Sheet1 |
The list of companies with under 100 employees who left California for other states is an interesting read in our May article.
BuildReport.co reported The Hoover Institution at Stanford published an analysis in 2022. According to the analysis… “352 companies moved their headquarters to other states 2018 – 2021. In 2021, California business headquarters left the state at twice their rate in both 2020 and 2019, and at three times their rate in 2018.”
Here are the company departures by year – by far the most since Gavin Newsom was elected California Governor, and locked down schools, most businesses and upwards of 40 million healthy people for three years during COVID 2019-2022:
- 2021: 153
- 2020: 75
- 2019: 78
- 2018: 46
Notably, the Hoover Institute report explains the importance of Headquarters companies:
“Headquarters are especially prized economic development wins because such jobs typically feature higher pay, and they inject a company’s decision-makers into the market, which can impact everything from real estate purchases to philanthropy to support for public schools.”
BuildReport.com reports there are 85 companies leaving California between 2020 – April 2023 with more than 100 employees. They’ve moved to 21 different states. Of those states, here are the biggest beneficiaries:
- Texas: 44
- Arizona: 6
- Colorado: 5
- Florida: 5
- North Carolina: 4
- Tennessee: 3
- Ohio: 2
- Multiple locations: 2
- 14 states: 1
The bottom line is that California is a very unhealthy state, and quite possibly terminally ill, as the Chief Executive Magazine annual list reports California remains 50th again:
They report, “more than half of states have cut tax rates in the last two years, according to the Tax Foundation. This has set off big regional competitions. Colorado, for instance, adopted a 4.4 percent top rate on income, and Arizona slashed its rate to 2.5 percent, leapfrogging the rate cut to 5 percent that Utah adopted five years ago.”
Yikes – our lawmakers continue increasing it – California’s income tax rate has been 13.3% for a decade, but effective January 1, 2024, the new top rate is an eye-watering 14.4%, Forbes reports.
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Not surprising, is it? But it’s downright depressing nevertheless. 🙁
I just dissolved my corporation. Not a big corp but still it employed 46 people.
I wonder how many businesses have simply given up. I cannot find on the Secretary of State’s website any information on how many others have simply paid off vendors and ceased operation.
Get out of California.
California’s dismal business climate is due entirely to Democrat Gov. Newsom and the rest of the criminal Democrat mafia gang who have completely mismanaged the state for YEARS with their destructive leftist globalist agenda while enriching themselves. No doubt they’re doing it deliberately and receiving payoffs from outside sources such as the CCP, cartels, WEF globalists, etc.?
–“Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon.” Winston Churchill
In CA, we have “predatory tiger” Dems, “cow they can milk” Dems, and “tigers they can train and milk” Dems, but we do not have any “healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon” Dems.
One other Churchill quote appropriate for businesses that have supported the Dem Party out of fear and/or desire to share in the crony capitalism.
–“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”
Businesses and individual Californians can run, but ultimately, the Marxist, anti American, anti freedom, anti free enterprise Dem Party must be politically defeated or we will lose our country, freedom, republic, and prosperity. That being said, the choice of where to fight has turned the fate of battles, wars, nations.
PS
To California and formerly California businesses, the California experience shows that importing cheap foreign labor is not actually cheap.
I would like to say there was a time being native of california it was,nt the way it has become today, it was,nt over priced and working class unfriendly gavin newsom has destroyed the golden state with explotation and greed now practically california is running communist, it is a shame!!, is california still part of united states? or has it become its own country within united states? doing what ever it wants too outside the constitution?, I had to relocate from my home state to a more civil state, operating as united states, over 800 thousand residents have vacated that,s a problem california needs reform and quickly!!!. fire all the crooked politicians it,s sad to see my home state in such conditions as it is today
last I want to add the homeless problem as my home state has the largest homeless population in the united states I feel its becouse of the social services offered to just about anyone from anywhere most of the homeless are not from california not native there from all over the world its not the weather attracting the world homeless its the social services offered from california to almost anyone from any where, this too need reform so the working class is,nt asked to finance the worlds homeless problem! which california will and does past cost upon there tax payers very reason california need reform and social services should be reformed quickly
Thank you so much Cali for sending us your businesses and money. Keep those democrates in office forever. Please to help the rest of America grow strong. Thank you.