Trying to be vague for privacy reasons, but left CA 35ish years ago (had someone expose himself to me in my front yard) and have been back half a dozen times since then. Each time, the decline was very observable. The time before last, I was in Chinatown in San Francisco and the store owners followed me around. My favorite restaurant was filthy and had an extra charge on the bill to cover employee health insurance. My beloved Fisherman’s Wharf was dirty and had signs everywhere warning about car break-ins.
The last time I visited, we flew in to Sacramento, went straight to Yosemite and Kings Canyon, and left. I have no desire to ever visit CA again. And we have relatives there.
“Imagine if all the Patriots in 1776 threw up their hands in defeat and moved to Great Britain rather than stay and fight to create a United States of America.”
They did. They left England and in the case of my family, scots who fought against the crown and fled to Ireland and then America. But when we got to this new land, at the urging of their pastor, William Martin, took up arms to live free in this country. The country is partitioning, people are dividing by ideologies, at some point there will be a divorce.
My wife and I, Californians, left the state many years ago for Florida. The best move we ever made.
We saw the writing on the wall years ago. We tell everyone including family that remains, California is like France. A beautiful place to live if it wasn’t for Californians (the French).
A beautiful state ruled by the most dysfunctional people. We saw a bad situation getting worse and worse. So, as a family, we decided to get the heck out of there.
Years later it has only decayed to the point that we never imagined at the time. Thank God for the wisdom to get out when we did!
I will be moving as I want a house next to a lake and a big yard with no fences. It is too expensive in California to buy a home. For $800,000 + you get a single story, no basement, 1/4 acre lot with a fence to keep out critters like rattlesnakes.
For $300k more or less, you can get a house with main floor and an upstairs and a basement that opens to the backyard and looking out over a lake or a creek or pond and large lot.
I will have to put up with winter so I will get a sunlamp....
This article misses the top factor that people depart from California - absurdly high cost of living. Even for those of us who were fortunate to buy homes years ago, the cost of everything else - groceries, insurance, gas, restaurants - everything you buy frequently - has skyrocketed since the pandemic. Of course this is due to the $20 minimum wage, high taxes, high real estate, excessive regulation, absurd environmental rules, but the bottom line is that most people find they can save 25% or more just by relocating to NV, AZ, not to mention ID, FL, TX. Plus massive tax reduction.
The only reason people stay in California is to work highly paid non-remote jobs and for the mild climate which I have not found elsewhere in the USA. My parents will never leave because all their friends are here, but like the author, that’s not enough to keep me here.
This 4th generation California will be gone as soon as my youngest finishes high school. California is losing its brighest young people as the low cost UC schools favor immigrants and others “first generation” students.
This is part of the plan, to push out “privileged” suburban families. Of course it is not working out so well as it has devasted the tax base, resulting in a massive budget deficit. The death spiral has begun.
It’s brilliant to move out of California after selling your home for a million and going to a state and buying the same home for 350K. You would have enough money in reserves to have a great life.
I think anyone moving from a blue state to a red state should have voting rights suspended for 5 years. That gives them time to enjoy the benefits of a red state and get to understand what freedom is before they start to destroy it. It might change their mind.
ping
The statement must not be “leaving California” but rather “moving to America”
Those who moved out of California will still vote for democrats wherever they are
California is like a giant pustule exploding sending it’s virus and bacteria all over the West to infect other states. Fifty years ago the most popular bumper sticker in Colorado was...
“DON’T CALIFORNICATE COLORADO!”
Well, it has been and now they are moving in on New Mexico and other states.