The pandemic may not have spawned an all-out urban exodus, but it has driven some residents of America’s most populous state to seek shelter elsewhere.
California, with its increasingly unaffordable locales and worsening housing shortage, had a net population loss of about 173,000 people between July 1, 2020, and July 1, 2021. Move-outs weren’t totally to blame — fewer move-ins from other states, a drop in foreign immigration and births, plus pandemic-related deaths, played a larger role than people fleeing the state because it got too expensive, experts say.
Still, thousands of people did move out of California’s pricey coastal cities in search of cheaper living. Should residents of those destinations blame Californians for the home price increases they’re experiencing? In most cases, no. Net move-ins accelerated across Sun Belt cities like Houston, Dallas, Phoenix and Austin during the pandemic, but housing construction is keeping up, and other factors account for the bulk of home price increases in those markets.
