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New Study Finds That ‘Calexit’ Out Of State Migration Continued During Pandemic

Net exits from San Francisco County increased by 649% from the year prior

By Evan Symon, March 5, 2021 2:14 am

A new study by the California Policy Lab (CPL) found that, between March 2020 and December 2020, most Californian counties lost more residents than gained, confirming that “Calexit” continued even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the CPL, while large counties such as Los Angeles did lose more total people overall from moving out, San Francisco County and others in the Bay Area were hurt the most, with net exits from San Francisco County increasing by 649% from the year prior.

However, much of the loss was not to out of state areas, as two-thirds of those leaving San Francisco simply moved to cheaper places around the Bay Area, such as Stockton. 80% stayed in California proper. Those fleeing San Francisco also helped mitigate losses in other counties.

“I moved from San Francisco to [the LA adjacent city of] Glendale because of the cost of living, but still wanting to be near a big urban area not in an awful place like Texas,” Brad Lincoln, a tech worker who had moved to San Francisco from Dallas four years ago, told the Globe. “I had to move to LA to get a cheaper place. I know it’s crazy to some, but I fell in love with the environment and ease of living out here, like so many before me.”

Many experts have said that the data fails to show the number of new residents born in the cities, which also helps put the CPL figures in context.

“The number of births in LA County has been decreasing for some years,” said John Busic, a New York-based migration tracker for a non-profit organization. “But even if you add in the numbers leaving overall and deaths, LA County is still growing, albeit extremely slowly. San Francisco doesn’t have that benefit, and neither do many other counties losing people.”

Despite many counties also gaining residents, most often from neighboring counties fleeing higher prices, the trend is showing more people leaving than entering the state. But according to the CPL, this was not a mass state exodus. Rather, San Francisco County was the only place showing such a “dramatic” exodus.

“California clearly did not experience a mass exodus,” explained CPL research fellow Natalie Holmes in a statement on Thursday. “At the county level, however, San Francisco is experiencing a unique and dramatic exodus, which is causing 50% or 100% increases in Bay Area in-migration for some counties in the Sierras.”

While the study didn’t list out of state locations Californians are going to, recent studies by other states have found that other Western states, especially those with lower tax rates and less liberal policies, have been the primary areas. Idaho has been a popular location for many leaving the state, with Idaho officials finding that the percentage of Californians moving in-state has gone up 10% in the past five-to-ten years. North Carolina has also been a popular destination, as has Texas, with metro Austin alone seeing 8% of it’s total migration growth coming from the Golden State.

Amid many leaving California, a significant percentage are moving back

But a significant number of those moving to California have been from the same places. Many Texans have moved to California in recent years, with many Californian ex-pats even writing about horrible experiences in Texas that drew them to move back.

“The tax situation is fantastic, as is the land situation. Houses are cheaper out there,” Roger Stanton, a Riverside native who moved with his family to San Antonio in 2015, only to move back last year during the pandemic, told the Globe. “But the weather was hell on my kids and people made sure not to make Californians feel welcome. Southern hospitality does not exist there.”

“As bad as things are in California, California, at least from what I experienced, is still better in most accounts. Not taxation, obviously, but California still has hope to turn things around, and you know, as a California native, maybe I can help right the ship by being here. I saw all the pluses and minuses of Texas, as well as places like Arizona, so maybe we can work on correcting it out here.”

“My new neighbors actually came from Texas two months ago, and after that big blizzard in Texas, they were surprised at how well California adapts to all kinds of weather and conditions. One cold snap hits Texas, most of the state shuts down. California gets wildfires and earthquakes and continues to sail on because they’ve worked so hard to protect themselves. Even when the state had power outages in a few areas last year, they weren’t for days at a time like Texas, who was minutes away from a statewide, weeks long blackout. I get why people want to leave. I do. But there’s still so many coming back that isn’t being reported on.”

The CPL report defined all moves in the study as moving between zip codes, not between cities as other similar studies used as a metric.

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6 thoughts on “New Study Finds That ‘Calexit’ Out Of State Migration Continued During Pandemic

  1. I think a month or so of house arrest, Karens everywhere, and repressive edicts from Nitwit, those from much normal-er states will be leaving.

  2. CalExit was a psyop. The guy behind it was Louis Marinelli who was training with Defense Intelligence Agency in La Jolla and is now a spy in St. Petersburg.

    If you look at the hardship moves in California as part of the pre-planned Corona-psyop, it continues the massive wealth transfer that was part of that intelligence op. By clearing out California’s valuable city centers, it creates a real-estate and wealth grab very similar to the pre-planned 2008 housing bubble created by the national security state.

  3. California might have decent weather in coastal communities but it no longer compensates for the absolute mess that Democrats and their RINO cronies have made of this once great state?

  4. ” I fell in love with the environment and ease of living out here…”

    It’s exactly this “land of the lotus eaters” mentality that makes California voters vote for Democraps that promise them free shtuff, then screw them over by lying and not following through…

    And that Texas boomerang guy is a big whiny baby… Southern hospitality… Please…

    Man up, buttercup…

    No, the George Gascon and other assorted Los Angeles fiascos and clusters should keep my Ventura County real estate resale value high while our beautiful home is being built out of state…

    Texas boomerang boy is delusional if he thinks CA can be turned around in his lifetime because of Mr. Softies like himself and San Franfreakshow Easy-Libing Larry…

    Losers all

  5. “…they were surprised at how well California adapts to all kinds of weather and conditions. ”

    Yeah, by shutting down the power grid for days on end when the Santa Ana’s blow…

    Delusional…

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