Live data from Hacker News

California exodus is a myth, UC research project finds

sfgate.com

11–20 of 362 posts

Re: California exodus is a myth, UC research project finds

#11
Here is another article with a chart: https://calmatters.org/politics/2021/05/california-populatio...

It shows a population decrease of around 0.5% in 2020.

Probably won't put much of a dent in traffic or housing costs, even if it continues for 10 years. But I still have fond memories of the 1990s, when things were more sane.

Re: California exodus is a myth, UC research project finds

#12
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The myth (repeated endlessly here and elsewhere) is that high taxes and excessive commercial regulation are driving wealthy founders and other knowledge workers out of California. The truth is that high housing prices are driving low and middle income households out of the state.

California has much lower housing costs outside of major cities. It’s exodus is seen as unusual simply because it’s a a populous state, but rate wise it’s hardly unusual. IMO, people leaving California in large numbers is also a function of how many people move into the state because people who moved long distances once are more likely to move again. As 2020 was a serious outlier I am sticking with U.S. states by net…

Suburban and housing costs in California are very high by national standards. Is your argument that the people who are moving out of California overwhelmingly non-native Californians?

Re: California exodus is a myth, UC research project finds

#13

- The article says that "millionaire flight" out of California is a myth. This is mostly true and a good point. - However, the article/research looks at outflow and doesn't find a trend but this is bad methodology. It looks like they are not factoring in the fact that less people are moving into California then had been previously even if the rate moving out isn't too different. It almost feels intentional given how…

The myth (repeated endlessly here and elsewhere) is that high taxes and excessive commercial regulation are driving wealthy founders and other knowledge workers out of California. The truth is that high housing prices are driving low and middle income households out of the state.

I guess this is probably the story that gets repeated in places like HN which I agree is common.

However, if you ever talk to uber drivers or your waiters they will complain about how expensive California is. Or even people at parties who are in between jobs and thinking of moving to where they grew up. I guess in real life I just hear more people talk about the general cost of living argument than a than the specific anti-tech one.

Re: California exodus is a myth, UC research project finds

#14

"The thing I have noticed is when the anecdotes and the data disagree, the anecdotes are usually right. There's something wrong with the way you are measuring it." - Jeff Bezos This is a tricky article because I can tell it's using the term 'exodus' and 'myth' differently than I would. It's abundantly clear there is a lot of migration out of California. Just ask Texans, Coloradans, and Idahoans.

Do you have data to back that up? Do we know that the number of Californians leaving is higher than before, and if so, by how much?

I do not have any data to present. I only have my personal observations and anecdotes from my peers. Which is why something seems off when this article claims the exodus is a myth when I see so many California license plates and when my realtor friend says a lot of Californians are buying up houses in the local market.

I don't claim to be a better researcher than the folks in the article but the conclusion doesn't seem to add up.

Re: California exodus is a myth, UC research project finds

#15
post #5

Housing is the real problem. I still live in the neighborhood where I grew up in Southern California. Back when I was a kid, we used to have street gangs, but they’ve all been gentrified out. They’re putting up a new housing complex in my neighborhood, and I learned that I qualify for the affordable housing units on a senior developer salary, because it’s below the median income.

Wow, so much good info in two lines of comment, love it. What you don't mention is whether you inherited or at least live in your family home.

A lot of my in-laws have lived in Palo Alto way before the boom times but are considering leaving when they retire, at that point the upsides of staying are suddenly a lot less.

Re: California exodus is a myth, UC research project finds

#16

"The thing I have noticed is when the anecdotes and the data disagree, the anecdotes are usually right. There's something wrong with the way you are measuring it." - Jeff Bezos This is a tricky article because I can tell it's using the term 'exodus' and 'myth' differently than I would. It's abundantly clear there is a lot of migration out of California. Just ask Texans, Coloradans, and Idahoans.

what a dumb quote by bezos

Re: California exodus is a myth, UC research project finds

#17
post #4

Careful framing of the purported “myth” is critical: > For one, while residents are moving out of state, they are not doing so at "unusual rates." Similarly, the research found no evidence of "millionaire flight" from California and notes that the state continues to attract as much venture capital as all other U.S. states combined, despite the recent exodus of Hewlett-Packard and Oracle. Who is saying California is u…

And these people will be replaced by less experienced or less talented workers. I recently heard a low performer get hired at a FAANG company and wondered how this person managed to trick that company into hiring him.

Maybe he was a sacrificial hire? Aren't some managers expected to cull the lowest relative performers every year?

Re: California exodus is a myth, UC research project finds

#18

"The thing I have noticed is when the anecdotes and the data disagree, the anecdotes are usually right. There's something wrong with the way you are measuring it." - Jeff Bezos This is a tricky article because I can tell it's using the term 'exodus' and 'myth' differently than I would. It's abundantly clear there is a lot of migration out of California. Just ask Texans, Coloradans, and Idahoans.

Do you have data to back that up? Do we know that the number of Californians leaving is higher than before, and if so, by how much?

California is losing a house seat, while Texas and Colorado are gaining one (or two for Texas). While the census doesn't account for the difference between growth rate and migration, it seems pretty suggestive to me.

https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/04/2020-census-d...

Re: California exodus is a myth, UC research project finds

#19

"The thing I have noticed is when the anecdotes and the data disagree, the anecdotes are usually right. There's something wrong with the way you are measuring it." - Jeff Bezos This is a tricky article because I can tell it's using the term 'exodus' and 'myth' differently than I would. It's abundantly clear there is a lot of migration out of California. Just ask Texans, Coloradans, and Idahoans.

what a dumb quote by bezos

The election wins of Trump, Boris Johnson, Brexit and The Liberals in Australia show that data collection really matters. Similarly the financial crisis of 2009 shows that missing data can really matter.

That's the key point of the quote:

> There's something wrong with the way you are measuring it

Re: California exodus is a myth, UC research project finds

#20
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

California has much lower housing costs outside of major cities. It’s exodus is seen as unusual simply because it’s a a populous state, but rate wise it’s hardly unusual. IMO, people leaving California in large numbers is also a function of how many people move into the state because people who moved long distances once are more likely to move again. As 2020 was a serious outlier I am sticking with U.S. states by net…

Suburban and housing costs in California are very high by national standards. Is your argument that the people who are moving out of California overwhelmingly non-native Californians?

I clarified, I am saying the net migration from California is hardly unusual as a percentage of the population. However, the magnitude of exodus is a function of both the size of the state and the number of people who recently moved to California.

It’s not that an overwhelming percentage of people leaving recently moved in, but they do represent a larger percentage of people moving out which is normal.

Post reply on HN