California Dip: More Residents Want to Leave

New survey data show that more Californians are thinking about moving out of state to more affordable markets: 53 percent are thinking of leaving, up four percent annually.

Joel Kotkin, a presidential fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University in Orange, Calif. and demographic and economic researcher, tells CNBC that he's shocked when he asks his students if they think they will be living in the state in 10 years. "I would say the majority would say 'no,' — and many grew up in California." Zillow senior economist Aaron Terrazas says, "There's no doubt that California's economy, for all of its strengths when it comes to innovation and creating these industries that people want to be part of, is struggling with high costs," which have "gotten way ahead of incomes, and that's making a lot of people think about whether it's worth the hurdles."

According to Edelman, 63 percent of millennials in the 2019 survey indicated they were considering a move from sunny California. The chief reason for dissatisfaction: housing. When asked in general about what would make them leave California, 60 percent of millennials in the survey gave housing cost and availability as the reason. That was slightly higher than the general population (55 percent), although 65 percent of renters cited housing factors as a reason to leave.

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