The Golden State is bleeding productive people like a stuck pig, and the usual Sacramento suspects still pretend it’s just “weather” or “lifestyle choices.” Spoiler: it’s not. Sky-high taxes, suffocating regulations, filthy streets, failing schools, and a quality of life circling the drain are driving out the very taxpayers who keep the progressive experiment afloat. This isn’t retirees heading to Arizona for golf. It’s working families, business owners, and high earners packing U-Hauls and fleeing to red states that don’t treat success like a crime. Even Gavin Newsom’s father-in-law said “see ya” and headed for Florida.
The Brutal Numbers Behind the Exodus
California has been losing hundreds of thousands of residents net to other states year after year. In 2025 alone, the state saw a net domestic loss of roughly 216,000 people. That’s on top of similar hemorrhages in prior years—over 1.2 million net domestic out-migration from 2020 to 2024. While foreign immigration props up the raw population count on paper, the real story is the quiet departure of Americans who actually pay the bills.
Higher-income and college-educated adults are increasingly part of this outflow. The people leaving tend to be younger, wealthier, and better educated than those staying. They’re not the illegal aliens or the tent-city population the left loves to highlight. These are the engineers, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and professionals who built California’s economy before the radicals turned it into a cautionary tale.
Sergey Brin recently made headlines when he left California for a $42 million mansion on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, likening his departure to his family’s decision to flee socialism in the former Soviet Union. https://t.co/Smnsnlu30r
— Bloomberg Tax (@tax) May 29, 2026
Why They’re Leaving: Taxes, Rules, and Rotting Quality of Life
The reasons are as obvious as they are ignored in Sacramento. California’s top income tax rate exceeds 13 percent. Add punishing property taxes, high gas taxes, sales taxes, and endless fees, and the burden crushes working families. Regulations make everything from building a home to running a business a bureaucratic nightmare. Energy costs are among the highest in the nation thanks to green fantasies that deliver blackouts instead of reliable power.
California has some of the strictest environmental regulations in the country.
Combined with a generally high cost of living, this has led both people and businesses to join a rapidly growing exodus from the state.
— Caleb Jasso in @dcexaminer.
https://t.co/zqqz5wgQsD— Institute for Energy Research (@IERenergy) May 28, 2026
Then there’s daily life. Streets filled with needles and human waste. Failing schools that prioritize ideology over reading and math. Crime that makes insurance unaffordable in major cities. Homeless encampments that never shrink no matter how many billions get flushed away. Families look around, do the math on what their taxes actually buy, and decide Texas, Florida, Nevada, or Arizona offers a better deal: lower costs, safer neighborhoods, and governments that don’t hate success.
Even the Elite Are Bolting—Including Newsom’s Kin
The hypocrisy hits peak comedy when even the connected class starts jumping ship. Gavin Newsom’s father-in-law, Kenneth Siebel, bought a multimillion-dollar home in Florida and became a resident. He wasn’t alone. Tech executives, Hollywood types, and wealthy retirees have been heading for low-tax, business-friendly states for years. When the governor’s own extended family votes with their feet, the “California Dream” is officially a nightmare for anyone who produces rather than consumes government services.
🚨 LMFAO! GOV. RON DESANTIS: “I’m doing a fundraiser in Florida, and a very nice gentleman talks about his decision to leave California, loving Florida, thanking me…”
“…then pauses and says, ‘I’m Gavin Newsom’s father-in-law.’ The crowd ERUPTED.” 🤣🔥 pic.twitter.com/UUFXHfoLEP
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 29, 2026
Middle-class families in places like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and the Inland Empire feel it hardest. They’re squeezed out by housing costs engineered by restrictive zoning and regulations while watching their tax dollars fund dysfunction.
The Devastating Long-Term Consequences
This isn’t a harmless rotation. California is losing its productive base while importing more dependency. The tax base erodes as high earners depart. Businesses follow the talent. Schools and services strain under changing demographics. The state that once represented American innovation and opportunity is becoming a welfare magnet propped up by those still trapped or too invested to leave.
Other blue states should watch closely. When government prioritizes redistribution, regulation, and radical experiments over basic competence, the competent eventually find the door. Red states welcoming these refugees are reaping the rewards—more jobs, stronger communities, and budgets that don’t require constant tax hikes.
California has the climate, ports, universities, and natural resources to thrive. What it lacks is sane governance. Until voters reject the one-party progressive machine that’s turned paradise into purgatory, the productive exodus will continue. The smart ones already left. The question is how many more have to go before Sacramento admits reality. America First states are proving you can have growth, safety, and opportunity. California could too—if it ever chooses results over ideology.