California loses over 500,000 while Florida gains 320,000 in last 2 years

[CF DolFan]

California loses over 500,000 while Florida gains 320,000 in last 2 years. Two states with nice weather but polar opposite poltiical ideologies. In fact if you add in Texas and New York you will see similar results in the population rise and decline.

I think people are waking up to the fact it's tough to live under those crazy standards and taxes. Since I can never out guess some of you I'm curious as to why it seems like people are leaving the blue states to go to the red if radical liberalism is best for the country?

[Sunstroke]

Did these 500,000 people all specifically claim "radical liberalism" as the reason for their move on their official exit interviews, or is your statement just a predictably deceptive misuse of "causation" versus "correlation?"


(Answers: "No, they didn't" and "Yes, it is")

[Dave Gray]

I don't think people are moving because of politics.  You're just projecting what you wish were true.

It's probably just the ebb and flow of their situations and a ton of other micro issues.  I'm sure decentralizing business is part of it.  A lot of businesses moved online and can work in different places. 

Big cities are liberal.  It's also where people go to live.  You can't make that direct connection.  Are people moving to New York City because it's progressive?  Some, maybe.  But it's probably because of other opportunities.

Florida is hard to live in right now.  I love it here and don't ever want to leave.  But the cost of housing -- I can't blame someone for leaving, whatever their political interests are.

[DenverFinFan]

The ridiculous taxes and high cost of living in Cali and NY as well as idiotic policies like plastic bag fees.

It’s a housing crisis in this country and it forces people to move. Colorado gets a lot of them. I rarely meet anyone who’s from my state anymore.

CF is mostly correct on this.

[Dave Gray]

Nobody is moving states because they have to pay for plastic bags.

It's larger than that.  It's general cost of living.  But it's not politics.

Florida will follow suit.  It's too expensive to buy here and you'll see an exodus.  It will ebb and flow.  I have friends that now work remote and are looking to leave Florida because they can't afford a house.  So, they're gonna move.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

WTF are you talking about with Florida housing prices?  While housing costs have gone up in Florida, they are dirt cheap compared to New York or California.  THAT is the reason for population shifts, particularly with a surge of remote working. 

[Spider-Dan]

Wow, if this trend continues, then Florida will have more residents than California by 2063!  Start the fireworks!

More people want to live in California than in Florida, which is why California has nearly 50% more residents than Florida.  Republicans are big fans of capitalism, so they should understand what happens to costs in locations with higher demand.  California is the still the most desirable state in the country.  Continue to cope and seethe.

The irony here is that two weeks ago, I was in Orlando for a wedding.  And for a "low-tax state," I was shocked to see toll roads EVERYWHERE.  In CA, you pay tolls when you go over a bridge, which funds construction and repair of that bridge.  In some of the highest traffic areas of LA and the Bay, you'll see some "toll lanes"... which you can use for free if carpooling or driving a recently-purchased EV.  But you conservatives seem to love to nickel-and-dime the working class to death just to avoid income taxes for the ultra-wealthy.

The sad truth is related to Dave's post: many people like to work in big blue states like CA or NY because you get paid more, then in retirement after their kids are grown and they are on a fixed income, they want to move to red states for the cost of living (and in some cases, the weather).  This is practically Florida's state charter.

[DenverFinFan]

Nobody is moving states because they have to pay for plastic bags.

It's larger than that.  It's general cost of living.  But it's not politics.

Florida will follow suit.  It's too expensive to buy here and you'll see an exodus.  It will ebb and flow.  I have friends that now work remote and are looking to leave Florida because they can't afford a house.  So, they're gonna move.

Not just bag fees but you add that on higher taxes on everything and more fees it adds to an already high cost of living so people are leaving.

I don’t think you’re seeing the same exodus in Washington or Oregon which are not too far off in base cost of living but with generally less fees.

[Dave Gray]

I think that housing costs aren't really apples to apples.

New York and California have been expensive for a long time.  You can sell your LA Mansion and come buy a house here straight cash, homie.  I get that.

But that's caused our Florida prices to increase in an unnatural way.  In addition to that, everything is owned, bought up and being rented out.  We don't have a regular market here.  People who live and work here can't afford rent -- it's doubled in the last few years.

All I'm saying is that the exodus happening in those places is going to hit here too, eventually.  People are going to move to Tennessee or whatever because 1) they can still work remotely and 2) they can buy a house.

[DenverFinFan]

I think that housing costs aren't really apples to apples.

New York and California have been expensive for a long time.  You can sell your LA Mansion and come buy a house here straight cash, homie.  I get that.

But that's caused our Florida prices to increase in an unnatural way.  In addition to that, everything is owned, bought up and being rented out.  We don't have a regular market here.  People who live and work here can't afford rent -- it's doubled in the last few years.

All I'm saying is that the exodus happening in those places is going to hit here too, eventually.  People are going to move to Tennessee or whatever because 1) they can still work remotely and 2) they can buy a house.

And unless this is addressed it will then happen to Tennessee and so on down the line.

[CF DolFan]

Nobody is moving states because they have to pay for plastic bags.

It's larger than that.  It's general cost of living.  But it's not politics.

Florida will follow suit.  It's too expensive to buy here and you'll see an exodus.  It will ebb and flow.  I have friends that now work remote and are looking to leave Florida because they can't afford a house.  So, they're gonna move.

I'm confused. You can't say it's not political when the liberal policies are what's causing the high cost of living and I will add in crime as well.  Both of those things are political so if you move for either of those reasons it's definitely political.  

The irony here is that two weeks ago, I was in Orlando for a wedding.  And for a "low-tax state," I was shocked to see toll roads EVERYWHERE.  In CA, you pay tolls when you go over a bridge, which funds construction and repair of that bridge.  In some of the highest traffic areas of LA and the Bay, you'll see some "toll lanes"... which you can use for free if carpooling or driving a recently-purchased EV.  But you conservatives seem to love to nickel-and-dime the working class to death just to avoid income taxes for the ultra-wealthy.

Tourists pay a lot of those tolls and it goes directly into the Expressway Authority to build new roads.  Add in the fact you don't have to take toll roads to get anywhere so it's not a tax on anyone who doesn't want it. Seems like a win-win to me.

Where I live it would take me an hour and half to get to downtown Orlando but I can take the toll roads and be there in 40 minutes. It's my choice. In all honesty the toll road is why I was able to move so far out here and still work in town.

[Fau Teixeira]

I moved from Red state Florida to Blue state Connecticut and the cost of living went down.

[Dave Gray]

I'm confused. You can't say it's not political when the liberal policies are what's causing the high cost of living and I will add in crime as well.  Both of those things are political so if you move for either of those reasons it's definitely political. 

Florida is a blood red state and the cost of living here is following the same path.  When the exodus happens from Florida, will it be because of conservative policies?

[Dave Gray]

Also, I do think that Florida not having State Income Tax is a big benefit if you've got money to spend and are looking for a place to go. 

But that's not a conservative thing -- we've not had a State Income Tax when we were blue either.

[dolphins4life]

One reason could be having an amazing governor who is willing to fight the woke mob.

It could also be due to climate change.  California has been hit MUCH harder by climate change than Florida

If these people were smart, they'd go Arizona or Pennsylvania