California lost 182,083 people in 2020, though it remains the most populous state, with just under 39.5 million residents. The state will lose a congressional seat for the first time, based on slower growth reflected in the 2020 census.
State officials attributed California’s historic population decline to the falling birth rate, deaths from COVID-19 and reductions in immigration.
There could also be an increase in people leaving the state because of remote working or switching jobs to places like Texas.
A lot of it is tied to the retiring Boomers. People retire in California, but hardly anybody retires to California. It’s just too expensive on a fixed income.
Northern California, like the Humboldt area, is my favorite place on earth. And I’ve been to some places. I like to hike through the redwoods, lie on my back and look through them at the sky for a while. I often think it would be nice to live in a little cabin there, but then I think it’s extremely remote and not well-served by airports AFAIK.
Wine country is really nice and mellow. It’s got that sun-glowy Tuscan thing going on, the food and restaurants are fantastic. I can’t drink alcohol anymore, so that’s kind of a drag to have to work around that, but otherwise it’s amazing.
I haven’t been all over Southern California. I spent a very uncomfortable summer in the Mojave Desert. The moonlit desert nights were absolutely amazing, but the hot dusty days were pure hell. I assume all of SoCal is like that, so I’m not much interested in seeing it.
[quote=“HMS_Irruncible, post:148, topic:939181, full:true”]I haven’t been all over Southern California. I spent a very uncomfortable summer in the Mojave Desert. The moonlit desert nights were absolutely amazing, but the hot dusty days were pure hell. I assume all of SoCal is like that, so I’m not much interested in seeing it.
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That is a really unfortunate assumption. Yeah, there’s plenty of desert area in SoCal, but that’s nothing like what much of it is.
This is what came to my mind when I read the comment from @HMS_Irruncible . It’s a one minute clip, invoked here with a smile on my face, not to be critical:
I lived in California two years, Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties, and traveled through the state another 5-6 times. I think it’s fine, but not a place I’d burning to get back to.
It’s a very friendly place, easy to make conversation. People you can chat with intelligently are very gregarious, and are frequently eccentric enough to be interesting.
Not too terribly bad out in the San Joaquin Valley, or at least some parts thereof. I’m in a small farm town with a total of two traffic lights, just a two-hour drive from the Bay Area, living passably comfortably (almost) on a fixed Social Security income.
You seem to be clearly referring to the Napa/Sonoma Wine Country, which is a bit up-scale-ish and touristy, but definitely an attractive area. There are other “Wine Countries” around the state. Paso Robles area (a wine appellation of its own) is otherwise largely “horse country”. Driving down U. S. 101, one also passes miles of vineyards in areas that don’t otherwise appear to have any interesting attractions at all.
There are also a large number of wineries in El Dorado County, east of Sacramento. Those also don’t have anything else particularly touristy around them, apart form the drive on a scenic country road to get to them.
Are you saying summer in beachside SoCal is a hot dusty hell?
If so, I have to assume it’s some sort of failed joke post. I live in the Bay Area and I’m not the biggest fan of Southern California. Also beaches, sun, and ocean are not my favorite things. Even so, the idea of coastal SoCal being a hot and dusty hell is silly.
I took it as a Greenland/Iceland thing: “Oh, yeah, definitely don’t go there, you wouldn’t like it at all all … mumble… mumble… more for the rest of us… mumble…”
Shhhh! Don’t tell them about my old vines, casual and unassuming tasting rooms, and lack of tourists! Nothing to see here. Everyone move along. Nothing to see.
