http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2010%2F12%2F09%2FBABV1GOF7B.DTL
you get this:
Also, over the past few years, more people have left California for other states than have come here, though foreign immigration and natural increases due to births have kept the Golden State's population on an upward trend to 38.8 million, according to the department's annual population estimate released Thursday.
So CA is still gaining population. Not to mention that often people move from CA as they age rather than die there.
The most telling statistic is interstate movement as presented by say U-Haul company. That's the real "follow the money" number.
No kidding. When my wife and I moved the family and our business from California to Texas in late 2005, the U-Haul rental rate from Los Angeles to Dallas was three times what it was going the other way.
A couple of years after moving here, I read that 1,350 Americans a DAY move to Texas from other states.