The Great California Exodus

WSJ ^ | 4-21-12 | Joel Kotkin

[dragnet2]

"Basically, if you don't own a piece of Facebook or Google and you haven't robbed a bank and don't have rich parents, then your chances of being able to buy a house or raise a family in the Bay Area or in most of coastal California is pretty weak," says Mr. Kotkin.

While many middle-class families have moved inland, those regions don't have the same allure or amenities as the coast. People might as well move to Nevada or Texas, where housing and everything else is cheaper and there's no income tax.

Absolutely.

If ya don't live on the 25 mile or so wide coastal plain, ya might as well move to Alabama or North Dakota.

To live on the CA coastal plain, ya better have lots of bucks. Otherwise, you'll do much better in places like Tennessee.

[ReagansShinyHair]

My father’s family came to CA as refugees, like the Joads, during the Great Depression. My mother’s family came to CA during the 1940’s boom, when hardworking self-sufficient legal immigrants made CA great. My husband and I were both born in CA and grew up during the decline.

We fled with our family in 2003. I now live fairly close to where my great-grandparents lived, and fairly close to where my husband’s family is from. We would not raise our children in CA. Most of our family has followed us out.