SACRAMENTO, Calif. — 40% of Californians are considering leaving the state, according to a new survey from the LA Times and a group of nonprofits. The survey shows the driving force is the cost of healthcare, housing and everyday expenses.
However, 70% of people surveyed said they are happy in California. They credit the state’s diversity and inclusion.
The new survey out from the LA Times is just the latest to paint a picture of why people are leaving California.
"Just housing would be just so expensive there,” said Susan Alkayssi.
Families like Susan Alkayssi’s or Blanca Nunez’s already made their decision to move.
“Our money's gonna go a lot further," said Nunez.
The costs of housing, healthcare and everyday living expenses dominated the reasons.
UC Berkeley Assistant Political Professor Omar Wasow said these are not just numbers on paper.
“What we've seen recently is that California is losing population now, and so this is a very serious threat to California's existence as a growing thriving state,” said Wasow.
Surveys like these are quick to be used.
“On the right, you see the stories about Californians wanting to leave being elevated as a story about crime or a story about intolerance or of cancel culture or something like that," said Wasow. "And that really misses the mark as we just discussed. People love living in California. They don't love paying so much in rent. They don't love paying so much for housing.”
71% said they are very happy.
That’s what Helen Torres said should be a key takeaway. She’s the CEO of Hispanas Organized for Political Equality, one of the non-profits behind the survey.
“If you had a state where people weren't happy, didn't have their values aligned and had economic stress, you probably had a very hopeless situation," said Torres. "Here, we're really talking about a hopeful situation where the heavy lifting of our values and our sentiments towards the state are really a resounding support of the state's policies as well as how we're feeling about the state.”
Republicans were three times as likely as Democrats to point to politics as a reason why they are leaving.
Wasow said they need to take surveys like these seriously and really start pushing forward on housing reform to build faster.
"Cultural inclusivity is wonderful, but financial inclusivity matters too," he said. "The material concerns of working people are not being addressed.”
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