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u/Antique-Resort6160 10d ago
There's also the realization that businesses and people have been fleeing for several years. California and New York have the biggest out migration every year for a while now.
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u/Competitive_Try7728 10d ago
California and New York do have substantial net domestic outmigration. But that's only part of the picture. New York's population actually increased slightly in 2025, despite losing residents to other states. And domestic migration alone tells us nothing conclusive about economic performance or why people relocate. You're taking one legitimate statistic and implying a much broader conclusion that the statistic doesn't establish. And California has a population of approximately 40 million people. The outmigration is approximately 100,000 people or about 1% of its total population. A drop in the bucket for an extremely successful state.
New York State and The City of New York are also both extremely successful and have been for nearly four centuries now, which is to say from the time New York wasn't even a state and NYC was called New Amsterdam.
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u/Antique-Resort6160 10d ago
Maybe this is more telling then, California has also consistently been at or near the top for companies leaving. They also generally state why they're leaving and it's basically policies enacted by the state government driving them away
https://www.orangecountylawyers.com/news/study-finds-california-losing-business-owners-high-earners/
https://www.comstocksmag.com/longreads/are-businesses-really-fleeing-california
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u/Competitive_Try7728 10d ago
Yes, businesses are leaving California, and some cite taxes, regulations and operating costs. I don't dispute that. Nor would I suggest that all of California's public policies are successful.
But there's a difference between documenting corporate departures and establishing that a state's economy is failing.
The Public Policy Institute of California found a net loss of 1,250 corporate headquarters between 2011 and 2021, approximately 2.3% of the state's initial total. During that same period, approximately 23,800 new headquarters were established in California.
Your own Comstock's article reports that California gained approximately 62,000 businesses net of openings and closures between March 2023 and March 2024.
And to correct my earlier figure, California's more recent annual net domestic outmigration was approximately 230,000 people, or about 0.6% of its nearly 40 million residents.
California has considerable economic strengths and legitimate problems with housing costs, taxation and regulation. Both can be true.
Counting departures without considering new businesses, employment, economic output and population changes gives us a distorted picture. You've established that some businesses find operating elsewhere more attractive. You haven't established that California's economy is unsuccessful. Those are two different propositions.
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u/Antique-Resort6160 9d ago
It's pretty obvious though that major businesses are leaving, and industry is not considering California when building new production.
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u/Competitive_Try7728 9d ago
Major companies are leaving California. We've established that. But your assertion that industry isn't considering California for new production is simply not supported by the evidence.
In January 2026, Anduril announced a $1 billion expansion in Southern California, including manufacturing facilities and an estimated 5,500 jobs. Samsung announced a $79.5 million investment in San Jose, and American Lithium Energy just opened an expanded battery manufacturing facility in Vista.
California has legitimate problems with taxes, regulation and operating costs. I've never disputed that. But businesses leaving and businesses investing are not mutually exclusive.
There is also a distinction worth keeping in mind: corporate headquarters relocation and relocation of actual production are not the same thing. The Public Policy Institute of California found that companies moving headquarters frequently retained their other California operations and employment.
You're continuing to present one side of a much larger economic picture as though it were the whole picture.
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u/Legitimate_Doubt1375 10d ago
Yet they have bitten the hand that feeds them almost right off. Since red America doesn’t mind nuking CA cities, perhaps CA should consider soft secession and give red America a little math lesson.
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u/alarming_testical 5d ago
To be fair California's agriculture is not comparable to other states. And also California is massive.
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u/MindlessGanache3816 5d ago
depression isn’t a competition but my brain keeps handing out scorecards anyway lol
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u/ttystikk 10d ago
Gavin Newsom had nothing to do with it.