How this Dem-led state whose population fled en masse during aggressive Covid years is STILL failing to bounce back

Californians are leaving the Golden State in droves, citing the high cost of living and poor quality of life as driving factors. 

The reasons behind California's population decline is largely due to the decrease in migration related as a result of international travel restrictions and a large amount of people taking advantage of the pandemic to move to a state with more affordable housing.

But others have cited more personal reasons for leaving, such as their politics, safety concerns, and what California is notoriously known for - traffic. 

Jackie Burse told Business Insider that she left the Golden State for the more conservative San Antonio, Texas. Born and raised in Orange County, Burse said she left because she felt overpowered by the locals' liberal agenda.

'I'm a conservative and I feel like it's difficult to have any opinions in California other than liberal,' Burse told Insider. 'Especially when you're living in the cities.'

In 2023, California's state population rose 0.17%, marking the first year of growth since the mass exodus that began in 2019 (Pictured: San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge tower)

California's population is 1.2% less than it was in 2019 (Pictured: Bustling streets of San Francisco)

Burse is particularly religious, and said she feels more comfortable being open about her faith in Texas than in California.

'For now, I don't have any plans to leave Texas anytime soon. I've found a great church, made many friends, and feel safe here.' 

In 2023, California's state population rose 0.17%, marking the first year of growth since the mass exodus that began in 2019.

Even still, California's population is 1.2% less than it was in 2019, per an LA Times data analysis. If California remains on this growth trajectory, the state will still will not reach pre-pandemic numbers until around 2032.

With the world re-opened, some companies have put an end to remote work. While San Francisco was one of the cities that was hit the hardest by the pandemic-related exodus, they experienced one of the biggest population increases last year.

However, the price of housing in California has been one of the biggest obstacles in restoring population growth. 

Pictured: Map of California an their counties who have lost population over last five years

Janelle Crossan moved her and her son from Costa Mesa, California to New Braunfels, Texas, one of the fastest growing cities in the United States, in 2020. While in Costa Mesa, she paid $1,750 for a 'crappy' apartment in an unsafe area.

'I never felt safe in my area. I felt like a prisoner in my apartment,' she said.

Not only has she found a higher-paying job, she now pays $1,800 a month for a three-bedroom home she purchased - property taxes included.

'Something as simple as has made my life go in such a different direction,' she said.

Elisabeth Wykert moved her family from Orange County to Missouri because buying a home in California was way out of her budget. Her and her husband are originally from Kansas City, Missouri, so they were familiar with the area.

'The rental cost of living was wild,' Wykert said. 'And to even think of purchasing a home was more wild.'

In fact, they were so desperate to cut their cost of living that they bought a house without seeing it in person. 

According to a recent survey by the Los Angeles Business Council Institute in partnership with the LA Times, three-quarters of renters and those younger than 35 have given consideration to moving out of L.A.

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The poll also found that 37% of homeowners and 26% of those 65 or older have also considered moving.

Sarah Karlinsky, a research director for the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley, told the LA Times that California 'has experienced a housing shortage for decades, which 'has forced people into 'substandard housing conditions.'

She also predicts that  'a little bit of a breather in the housing market might allow someone who is doubling, tripling, quadrupling up to find a place of their own,' she said.

While San Francisco was one of the cities that was hit the hardest by the pandemic-related exodus, they experienced one of the biggest population increases last year (Pictured: Streets of San Francisco)

Los Angeles has 340,000 less people than it did in 2019, while San Francisco, San Diego and Santa Clara counties are each around 40,000 people short (Pictured: Trolley in San Francisco)

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Karlinsky said the state is in dire need of subsidized and affordable housing as a large number of the population is 'teetering on the edge or have fallen into homelessness.'

Los Angeles has 340,000 less people than it did in 2019, while San Francisco, San Diego and Santa Clara counties are each around 40,000 people short.

25 of California's 58 counties saw population increases since 2019, accounting for a total of slightly under 12 million people, or 30% of the state's overall population.

Three counties—San Benito, Yuba, and Trinity—all of which are rural areas with comparatively small populations—reported population growth of more than 5%.

San Francisco County has 5% less people than in 2019, while Los Angeles County has 3.3% less.

Although San Francisco County expanded by 0.1% and Los Angeles County by 0.5% in 2023, they still fell well short of offsetting the previous few years' losses.

Another issue California faces is not only a decrease in population. but an aging one as well. Because of this, the Public Policy Institute of California said says that workforce is likely to shift to retirees rather than young people looking for work.

As a result, there may not be enough 'health care personnel to care for the growing number of Californians.' 

25 of California's 58 counties saw population increases since 2019, accounting for a total of slightly under 12 million people, or 30% of the state's overall population (Pictured: Chinatown in San Francisco)

Although San Francisco County expanded by 0.1% and Los Angeles County by 0.5% in 2023, they still fell well short of offsetting the previous few years' losses (Pictured: Couple walking streets of San Francisco)

While population growth has not been substantial, Governor Gavin Newsome said that departures from the state have ceased, referring to the data indicating 2023 population increases.

Hans Johnson, a demographer at the Public Policy Institute of California, noted that if California's population continues to grow at this slow of a rate, they may lose representation in the House of Representatives in 2030.

But overall, Johnson says despite three years of population loss in which there were a lot of stories about how California was so dysfunctional that no one wanted to be here,' the state is returning to 'a moral normal pattern of population change.'