Between 2004 and 2005, the migration flow into California from the other 49 states started flowing the other way. Data from the state Department of Finance show that, for the first time this decade, more people left California in 2005 for another state than the number who moved in. Mary Heim, a finance department demographer, says this particular kind of outflow will continue for the foreseeable future.
Unlike the tens of thousands who left Silicon Valley following the tech bust earlier this decade, the new migration is about the quest for something besides a job: a better quality of life at a lower cost of living.
For 150 years, California has been seen as the Golden State of opportunity and freedom for millions of migrating Americans. Other than recessions in the 1970s and 1990s, and possibly wars, “I don’t know if California would ever have been in a position where it was losing people to other states,” said Hans Johnson, a demographer with the Public Policy Institute of California. “This is very new and very different.”
Thanks for the link, murray. Census Bureau data shows outmigration since 2001 (San Diego). High housing costs relative to wages are motivating people to pack up and leave. Others are cashing out and retiring in cheaper cities.
There is plenty of foreign migration to more than make up for the outflow to other states…of course, not all of the immigrants can afford to buy property.
The more that real estate prices in CA drop, though, the more people will come back to California from other states in the next 5-10 years.
If you count births and illegals, population growth is positive, but net domestic migration out of San Diego is negative since 2001. So we’ve got births and illegal aliens contributing to population gain, neither of which is helping the housing market.
San Diego is dependent on the first time buyer to start the chain of sales, and I don’t see babies or illegals helping in that regard. Educated adults are leaving, and that is bad for our economy. Eventually, after prices fall in half, people will come back.
By the way, I think it’s entirely possible that we have a 10 – 15 year housing price drop like Japan just experienced. Japan’s prices had gone up even more than ours, and nobody thought they could ever drop. Well, they did. At one point, Japan’s Imperial Gardens property was worth more than all of California! Then prices plummeted by 80%!
SB, low home prices aren't necessarily good news, because they correlate with high unemployment, low income, etc. Example — Buffalo, NY: unemployment of 15%, median household income of $27K, median home price of $61K.
Man, with numbers like that, no wonder all my Navy buddies from Buffalo were heavy drinkers. I bet all the d— al Qaeda thugs in Buffalo ('Lackawana Seven') had to hit the sauce, too, precepts in the Koran be danged.
Per 'The Bell Curve,' Asians, on average, have higher IQs than whites, Mexicans, and blacks. If Asians are so smart, why in the heck are they still, and the only group, moving to California? Due to the great home prices and public education system? Wake up, folks; even my Mexican brethren are abandoning ship!
There are certain cities and states that are perceived as “Asian friendly” and California and Washington state are two of them. There are already established Asian communities in these two states and it makes being there easier. A lot of times there is an established network of family as well that can help ease the assimilation of an out-of-state family.
Also, the high tech economy of California attracts a lot of well educated and skilled Asians.
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