Just like anything else, where you live is a value proposition: what you're getting vs. how much you're paying. Unfortunately for California, what you're getting has in a lot of ways stayed the same or diminished while the price has become exorbitant. So if you're rich (or your parents can afford to help you with the down payment) and can afford the increasing number of million dollar homes, you're ok. If you're old, and bought real estate when houses were more affordable, you're ok and probably a millionaire at this point. If your young, single and haven't had to fully contend with long term things like buying a house and raising kids, you're probably ok renting and just living for the moment. But if you're looking to settle down and you don't have a leg up on a mortgage, the value proposition that California offers is simply vanishingly small. If you're looking to raise kids in decent school districts with a community around you and some semblance of traditional values and you can't afford million dollar homes that reside in those communities, you're not seeing the value there. If you're trying to start or grow a business without the state treating you like shit, or are trying to build housing and rent it to people without being treated like you're going to destroy the environment, you're not seeing the value. That's really why people are leaving. If you're rich in California, you're fine, if you're poor, you actually have a lot of stuff taken care of by the state, but if you're trying to move up in between that, it's a massive uphill battle. And now that the powers that be have essentially signaled that they're ok with businesses leaving, this will accelerate. Just because a place is nice, doesn't mean it will stay that way forever, just ask Detroit. Unfortunately it seems like California is determined to go that way eventually.
