Californians Are Leaving the State for More Affordable, Greener Pastures

California had a net loss of 143,000 residents in 2016, and people continue to leave the state, report Prashant Gopal and Noah Buhayar:

For some Californians, the state’s punishing housing costs, high taxes, and constant threat of natural disaster have all become too much. They’re making their escape to areas such as Boise, Phoenix, and Reno, Nev., fueling some of the biggest home-price gains in the country.

This influx of new residents is driving up housing costs in these other places, and that is good news for existing homeowners. But, locals who want to buy homes are feeling the pressure of rising home prices, and some city leaders are calling for preemptive affordable housing measures.

Gopal and Buhayar say that a secondary factor driving these moves is political persuasion, with some transplants from California seeking more conservative communities. At the same time, liberals are experiencing culture shock. “It’s not new for politics to factor into moving decisions—it’s just that in the age of Trump, tensions get magnified,” say Gopal and Buhayar.