Texas emerges as top destination for Californians fleeing state

Californians fled the state in unprecedented numbers over the last decade, and their primary destination was Texas, according to an analysis issued Monday.

About 5 million Californians departed the Golden State between 2004 and 2013, while 3.9 million arrived from other states for a net population loss of roughly 1.1 million, the Sacramento Bee reported Monday using tax-return data from the Internal Revenue Service. The estimated loss from the migration in annual income to California? Roughly $26 billion.

Nearly 600,000 Californians wound up in Texas, while about 348,000 Texans moved to California. The other top net recipients of Californians were Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, the analysis found. Even so, California has seen its population increase slightly from 37 million in 2010 to nearly 39 million, thanks largely to an influx of foreign-born immigrants.

Analysts blame a host of factors for the migration, starting with California’s high tax rate and cost of living. The state is also entering its fourth year of drought and recently enacted mandatory reductions on residential water suppliers.

By Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times - Monday, August 31, 2015

Link to the original article here.