Fleeing California
A new study is out about salaries and housing in California, and it has a real downer of a title that sums it all up: “Growth and Dysfunction: An Analysis of Trends in Housing, Migration and Employment.”
The report, commissioned by non-profit Next 10 and prepared by Beacon Economics, found that more people moved out of the state than moved in over the decade ending in 2016.
While that’s not a new trend, the study tracked people who held low-paying jobs and found that more people making less money on the job are leaving the state looking for affordable places to live.
That’s despite a growing number of available low-paying jobs. Those low paying jobs are concentrated in industries like leisure and hospitality, retail, agriculture and health care. Those also happen to be some of the largest industries in Monterey County. Retail and health are big in Santa Cruz County.
No surprise, the out migration is driven by skyrocketing housing prices.
The study found that most of the people who packed up and left California went to five states: Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
The number of people leaving Santa Cruz for out-of-state has dropped over the last ten years, according to the study, to less than 1,500 in 2016.
The numbers in Monterey County have held steady over the same ten year period, at less than 1,500.
The study found that while the low-wage sector is growing fast, incomes are flat and those working those types of jobs can’t afford California’s soaring cost of living.
“California is sinking deeper into a housing crisis, and this raises questions about the sustainability of the state’s overall economic growth,” said F. Noel Perry, businessman and founder of Next 10 quoted in a statement released with the study. “California continues to draw more high-earning, educated people from other states and countries, but the ever-increasing cost of housing is forcing lower and middle income Californians to leave the state to hopes of finding more affordable housing.”
While that part of the economic spectrum is dark and gloomy, things are brighter at the other end in the Bay Area of California. High wage jobs continue to grow and it experienced overall net migration growth. Los Angeles and the Inland Empire did not fare so well.
To read the full report, click HERE.
