Where Californians are moving when they go out of state
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When Californians decide to leave the state, most of them are heading to Texas, new census data shows.
State of play: While moving overall is at an all-time low, there's been an uptick in state-to-state migration.
By the numbers: A five-year pooled average over 2018-2022 shows that almost 90,000 Californians made the journey to Texas.
- Arizona comes in second at more than 64,700, while Nevada is third at about 54,100.
Meanwhile, the top five counties where people from California end up are:
- Clark County, Nevada
- Maricopa County, Arizona
- King County, Washington
- New York County, New York
- Ada County, Idaho
The big picture: That Texas is the top destination isn't entirely surprising — many tech companies relocated from the Bay Area to Austin in recent years.
- Elon Musk made headlines in 2021 when he announced that Tesla would move its headquarters from Palo Alto to Austin.
- He has since said he will also relocate the headquarters of X, formerly known as Twitter, and SpaceX from California to Texas.
Yes, but: Some tech workers are now seeking to return to the West Coast, citing Texas' low funding, lack of diversity, conservative politics and natural disasters.
The fine print: The maps are based on new 2018-2022 five-year state-to-county migration estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
- The estimates are best understood as a pooled average covering that time frame.
The bottom line: Most Americans stay close to home — but plenty are still making big moves, whether for a job, an education or family reasons.