This graph looks funky because it is charting negative numbers, but the latest housing-bubble study by the California Association of Realtors shows that of the people leaving California, the majority have incomes under $100,000.
They concluded that the main reason people are leaving is because of the high cost of housing.
Although California has, in many ways, earned its reputation for being hostile to business and ‘taxing people to death,’ the outmigration patterns by income are instructive and even illuminating. Virtually all of the state’s out-migrants earned less than $100,000 per year. That is true whether measured in raw numbers or as a percentage of each income group, but it is the exact opposite of what we would expect to see if it were taxes that were driving folks away. This is a housing issue, pure and simple.
Link to Study
The headline of this article says Californians are leaving in ‘droves’, but the story concludes that folks in the high desert are moving due to higher crime rates:
http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/20180203/packing-up-and-moving-out-people-are-leaving-california-in-droves-including-some-high-desert-residents
Of i were not on vacation I’d refute this completely. Suffice to say this is so wrong calling the conclusions a self serving lie is a kindness. Let’s revisit this next week.
But it’s the California Association of Realtors…….
That’s why I left! Why pay $2,005/month (back in 2010) for a trac home when I move out of state and I have what would be a $1.2 million home in Santa Barbara County and a 3.625% mortgage and $1,314/month PITI.
Don’t get me wrong. I was born in CA, spent most of my life there. I miss the beach and old friends but that’s why planes were invented… 🙂
Yep, JtR gave me advice and the local newspaper told me: “County Pensions to hit $1 Billion Soon” right before I made the decision. Property taxes are insane there…
Interesting, your threshold to stay in CA would be $700/ month or do I miss anything? Regarding property taxes in Ohio below example from Dublin, OH doesn’t look cheap to me.
$200,000 Home in Dublin ($200,000 * 35%)/1000 * 91.97276 = $6,438 total property taxes*
Yes, Alex123 there were other factors. My much younger husband died of cancer when our kids were 14 and 18. In 2008, my daughter started college and went to UC Santa Cruz–her first choice (about $35K/year and the Board of Trustees had double tuition hikes some years).
The stock market crashed a month before she started school. Like millions of others I lost a 100’s of $1,000s in that crash. I wanted her to go to the college she chose, and wasn’t excited to pay $750K+ for a trac home I didn’t even like. To be honest, I couldn’t afford both–as I wasn’t working either.
Truthfully, I chose college for her instead of a house in CA for me. Both kids were out of the house by then and I didn’t want to rent the rest of my life. My daughter has no student debt from college (but is now incurring it as she gets her Master’s degree). I don’t regret my decision at all as we went through so much with my late husband’s cancer battle. We had been homeowners in Hawaii and Bend, OR before his diagnosis, and I so missed that.
I have a near 2,000 sf very modern (new construction/2016) home in an upscale subdivision now. Yes, I try to survive the winter here in Boise (not a fan of snow at all) and the “political climate”, but all in all I’m content here (Just got engaged too). My property taxes are just $2,567/year. Easy peasy compared to $8-$15K in Santa Barbara County.
Apologies for long reply but should have explained situation better in my first post. Be well!
Very interesting story, Susie! Thanks for sharing! We built a prefab home in Bend to flip, market tanked, rented it for 10 years and recently sold it. Overall, it worked out okay. I never visited Bend. I didn’t want my car’s engine covered in moon dust, and getting there by plane from LA is obscene. Also, having lived on the east coast for a spell, I now actively avoid areas featuring weather devoted to trying to kill me.
Thanks for sharing, glad it worked out for you and your kids, in case you got too cold in Boise how about full ocean view property in Puerto Rico for $100k or less? I’ll be taking my family for a month in April to check the market and doing some serious fishing.
“Thanks for sharing, glad it worked out for you and your kids, in case you got too cold in Boise how about full ocean view property in Puerto Rico for $100k or less?”
And if you buy today, they’ll include a free complimentary box lunch.
I was a California resident for my first 56 years. The military caused me to live all over the world, but I initially retired in California. The quality of life in California degrades every year. These migration studies likely miss many of the homeless and those “in sanctuary.” I personally cannot understand why anyone would choose to retire in California. Anyplace that is close to being worthwhile/affordable of going is overrun with vermin.
I disagree, but thanks for chiming in.
I think the rich people will run out the vermin and anything else undesirable.