New Study Reports California Leads the Country in Most Moved-Out-of Cities

This article should not surprise anyone.  As a whole California is losing population—only by replacing honest people with illegal aliens haven’t the State collapsed.

“According to a new study by the moving and storage company Pods, seven of the top twenty cities in the country where people are moving out of are in California, with Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area being the top two move out locations on the list.

Other Californian cities in the top twenty included San Diego in 5th place, Santa Barbara in 11th place, Stockton/Modesto in 13th place, Fresno in 17th place, and Bakersfield in 19th place. The figures were similar to where the moveouts stood last year, with L.A. and the Bay Area not changing, San Diego being in 8th place and Stockton/Modesto being in 9th place. Only one Pods service area, Sacramento, didn’t make the top twenty in either year.”

Of course Los Angeles and San Fran are number one and two in the nation!

New Study Reports California Leads the Country in Most Moved-Out-of Cities

‘People are still leaving California in droves’

By Evan Symon, California Globe,  5/27/25    https://californiaglobe.com/fr/new-study-reports-california-leads-the-country-in-most-moved-out-of-cities/

According to a new study by the moving and storage company Pods, seven of the top twenty cities in the country where people are moving out of are in California, with Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area being the top two move out locations on the list.

Other Californian cities in the top twenty included San Diego in 5th place, Santa Barbara in 11th place, Stockton/Modesto in 13th place, Fresno in 17th place, and Bakersfield in 19th place. The figures were similar to where the moveouts stood last year, with L.A. and the Bay Area not changing, San Diego being in 8th place and Stockton/Modesto being in 9th place. Only one Pods service area, Sacramento, didn’t make the top twenty in either years.

20 Cities With the Highest Number of Move-Outs Ranked

1. Los Angeles, CA 
2. Northern California (San Francisco area)
3. South Florida (Miami area)
4. Long Island, NY
5. San Diego, CA 
6. Central Jersey, NJ
7. Chicago
8. Boston
9. Hudson Valley, NY
10. Denver, CO
11. Santa Barbara, CA 
12. Seattle, WA
13. Stockton/Modesto, CA
14. Washington, DC
15. Hartford, CT
16. Tampa Bay area
17. Fresno
18. Austin, TX
19. Bakersfield
20. Philadelphia

The study also found that the main reasons behind the top areas on the list were largely because of economic reasons. Amongst the issues they have are high costs of living, low housing affordability, increased natural disaster risks, and overcrowding. The study even devoted an entire section to the “California Exodus”, highlighting the various factors concerning the move outs.

“People are still leaving California in droves,” pointed outs Pods. “Echoing last year’s numbers, California is home to seven cities on our top 20 list of move-outs, though this year only three markets made it into the top 10. Both Los Angeles and Northern California return for the fourth year in a row as our number one and number two most moved-out-of cities, respectively, while San Diego jumped up three spots from 8th to 5th this year. Stockton-Modesto dropped out of the top 10, down to 13th this year, and Fresno and Bakersfield reappeared toward the bottom of the list again.

“With rising costs of living, California continues to have the highest number of exit moves in the country (the state’s cost of living is almost 50 percent above the national average). Housing prices are nearly double, according to California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office reports, with typical mortgage payments averaging around $5,500 per month — an astronomical ask when the median household income is $96,334 annually (or $8,027 per month before taxes). Speaking of taxes, California has some of the highest tax rates in the country, too.”

The study largely falls in line with other reports and studies released in the past five years concerning the population of California and population shifts, including those by fellow moving companies like U-Haul. While some governmental groups and lawmakers, including Governor Gavin Newsom, have tried to put a positive spin on the issue by pointing out slight overall growth in the state in the past few years, the state is still struggling to come back from the mass population loss first spurred on by the COVID-19 pandemic and then continued on because of high costs, crime, and other factors.

One recent study by the California Department of Finance confirmed the massive population losses in the Bay Area in 2024 yet found that Los Angeles County actually saw a slight population gain. As Los Angeles is the most in-demand self-storage market in the nation, with short-term storage being particularly crucial, Pods figures may be somewhat skewed. This is also true because of the fact that the study only included service areas for Pods, and not the entire country. But even with that taken into exception, the Pods study continues with broader trends, like California, New York, and Illinois being the the top states in terms of overall population loss.

While California is likely to still see incremental overall gains in the near future, with the state only turning around state population losses last year, city losses in major cities will likely continue thanks to high costs and other factors. As 56% of all Californians have considered leaving the state in the past several years, a worsening cost of living or increased taxes could easily push more people out of the state.

Comparatively, the Pods study found that the Southeast U.S. was seeing the most move-ins. Myrtle Beach, SC and Wilmington, NC topped the list, with Ocala, FL, Raleigh, NC, and Greenville/Spartanburg, SC rounding out the top five.