“Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded” – Yogi Berra
Well, California did experience a population drop last year for the first time in recorded memory, though that may be a temporary thing related to Covid-19 if you accept what the pundits are saying.
The irony (for purposes of this thread, anyway) is that in California it’s getting harder for anyone but the 1% (or maybe 10%) to live comfortably.*
*For example: the median home price in Texas is $195.000. The median home price in California: $552,800.
My brother has been claiming that California is going down the tubes for 25 years, during which time his home value has gone from $180k to $1.5M+. While screaming at the “fruits and nuts” he bought a condo as an investment, he’s so convinced the place is going to hell. And despite the value of the condo skyrocketing during a time when he was unable to evict the tenant for not paying rent he will not “surrender” and sell the condo.
Wow, that seems like a lot for a house built in the middle of a road.
They get you coming and going.
The majority of Texas would be improved by paving it.
Yes, but you have to live in Texas. (shudder)
The majority of Texas would be improved by unpaving it, instead.
Would certainly help with the flooding we get down here.
Another apropos quote:
“If I owned Texas and Hell, I would rent out Texas and live in Hell” – Gen. Phil Sheridan
California lost more domestic citizens in the last few years than any other state. 203,000 or so.
In fact, the top 5 states with the most domestic outwards migration are:
California
New York
Illinois
New Jersey
Massachussetts
Blue states, all. Pretty much the bluest of the blue. And you have to go way down the list before you find the first red state.
The top 5 states with the most domestic inwards migration are:
Florida
Texas
Arizona
North Dakota
South Dakota
And only Washington cracks the top ten for blue states with net inwards migration. But I suspect that’s changing consodering how badly Portland and Seattle are being run.
This is what economists call ‘revealed preferences’. Don’t listen to what people say, look at what they do. And what they are doing is generally moving out of blue states and into red states. That became pretty obvious in the last census.
Yes, Sam, that’s the Democratic Diaspora Texas conservatives are yelling about. It’s one of the reasons why Texas is turning blue.
The other part of why Texas is turning blue, of course, that conservatives have finally revealed themselves for the psychopathic evil shits they are.
How does that work when you include nondomestic, noncitizens?
Plus, a lot of this has to do with the greying of America. The states you mention:
tend to be places where people move to to go to school, or find a job.
They move out of those places when they’re done working and want to retire.
Two retirement states and three where a whole lot of fracking is going on.
And consider, if you will, North Carolina. A rather purplish state. Urban areas (generally blue) are increasing in population, rural areas (reddish) are emptying out.
Do immigrants’ preferences not matter? Or do we only care about the preferences of retirees and fossil fuel workers?
You mean like Elon Musk? 
Companies like Oracle, HP Inc. and Toyota have all moved headquarters from California to Texas recently. There are other examples as well.
“Anecdotal evidence suggests out-migration is spurring an exodus from the Bay Area, which has seen the headquarters of several startups and two Fortune 500 companies leave this year. Fortune 500 No. 7, McKesson Corp. (NYSE: MCK) and fellow Fortune 500 Core-Mark Holding Co. (NASDAQ: CORE) both headed to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. After this year’s annual meeting, Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCHW) founder Chuck Schwab said his company’s headquarters could one day leave San Francisco.”
“Some observers see a sorting-out process occurring with those seen as more liberal, highly educated and earning higher salaries coming to California and those who are more conservative exiting the Golden State. A report in Monday’s Los Angeles Times titled, “California conservatives leaving the state for ‘redder pastures’” featured a Modesto couple moving to suburban Dallas.”
So does that mean California gets bluer and Texas stays red?
A pointy-headed intellectual perspective on how home prices may be the ultimate driver of out-migration from California to Texas.
I think people read to much into migration patterns. Some retirees look for warmer weather and lower taxes. Those just happen to be redder states. Does that mean they all endorse Republican politics? I doubt it. The fracking boom made the Dakotas gain in population. That doesn’t mean that people are moving there because they’re ruby red states, it’s just that the oil happens to be there. Some corporations are moving headquarters from cities like SF and NY. I think that has a lot more to do with the cost of real estate than about local politics.
It’s slowly happening in ID as well, but will take quite a bit more time. Lots of wealthy Californians and Seattleites buying up land and houses here that seem very expensive to the locals. Sure, some of these folks are red, but a lot are not. I think a lot of them are also buying them as second/vacation homes that they Airbnb the majority of the year.
I will die before ID becomes firmly purple, but it’s fun watching the right bitch and moan about all the gawdamned Californians.
Resistance is Futile. You WILL be assimilated.
What Sam also doesn’t get is that bringing Californians in to Texas means bringing people who:
- Can easily overpay for homes, crowding out locals:
For example, I get at least 3 calls a day from people wanting to buy my home. Cash, for about twice what I paid for it 11 years ago. I paid $128k for my home in 2011 and we just had the first $300k sale in our neighborhood… and I live in what was the ‘model’ home when this neighborhood went up forty years ago.
In San Antonio, the poorest of Texas’s 4 major cities (but still #32 on the list, ahead of KC and Nashville), the average home price has jumped to over $345,000, from $171k in 2013. (Cites below)
Believe it or not, Sam, people are not really happy about this. Those who want to upgrade cannot. People in apartments are finding it harder and harder to save the money (REMEMBER THE STAGNANT WAGES YOUR PREFERRED ECONOMIC THEORIES BROUGHT US, SAM! DON’T EVER FORGET ABOUT THE STAGNANT WAGES WHICH COULD PAY FOR THESE HOUSES, TYVM!*) needed to purchase a house. Sellers are acting like jack-assess, trying to get people to break purchasing agreements so they can resell the house for 20% higher (as was happening to my ex-wife, until she finally closed two weeks ago, 11 months after the original close date).
- Have an expectation for the ease a robust government can bring to their lives, an expectation which will be destroyed in Texas:
Given that it is regulated at the state level, Sam, their health insurance coverage is going to get a LOT shittier and a LOT more expensive, especially the lower you go on the org chart.
Everyone is going to have to purchase automobiles and incur the costs of the auto lifestyle, including increased pollution, financing costs, commute times, stress, and more.
The quality of schooling will be less, and will also incur expenses based upon your new automobile lifestyle you have to pay for because there is no BART in Texas.
You have a governor actively working to kill you and your children. Actively, Sam.
You have a lieutenant governor who thinks you should die for the economy, especially if retired.
You have a Senator which despises your presence in his State. But wants your money, this hypocrisy you saw even while in California.
The electrical system is completely fucked. We can’t keep power on during the snow, we can’t keep it on during the heat. (To be fair, Californians are probably used to this sort of thing.)
Cites:
(The preview says “Houston” but the article is “San Antonio”.)
- Sorry for shouting, but I do not think this point can be emphasized too much. Reaganomics and the financialization of America is preventing ordinary Texans from purchasing homes in Texas because the very same plutocrats who stole Texans income gains over the past 45 years are now moving to…
Texas.
This is what I was talking about a couple posts up. Housing prices have skyrocketed in Kootenai County, ID and in particular, in Coeur d’Alene. It’s great if you want to sell and go somewhere less expensive, but the locals that don’t yet have houses are shit outta luck. The median listing price for a house in Coeur d’Alene was over $800K recently. In IDAHO!
Sorry, did not mean to step on your toes, merely wanted to reinforce your argument.
Ha! No toe stepping! 
You always provide a lot more detail then I tend to.