For families with “deep roots” in California, staying is an easier choice than for out of state transplants. The family has a number of overpriced housed in California, and has reaped some large profits from selling others. The existing properties, and profits provide a basis for our children to stay in the state.
When my daughter finishes her Phd at Berkeley, we will find the money for a down payment on property in California if that is what she wants – even if it is in the very overpriced city of Berkeley. I have tried living in other states and cannot imagine that prices would drive a Californian to the cold of Chicago, or the humidity of Texas, or the . . . of the south.
Just in San Diego we have UCSD, San Diego State, Scripts Institute and a hundred miles north, UCLA, USC, Cal Tech and many others. The level of education taken for granted in California dwarfs any other area I have been reluctantly transfered to over the years.