California’s progressive policies have been blamed for surges in public disorder in the Golden State’s cities, particularly homelessness. It had the highest rate of homelessness in the US in 2022, when the state held more than a quarter of the US’s homeless population. Crime also saw a considerable uptick in the state during and after the pandemic. Cities including Los Angeles and San Francisco have been plagued by organised retail crime, a contributing factor to the widespread closure of major storefronts.

In addition to progressive policies, the state has been plagued by a high cost of living. Homes in California are about twice as expensive as the US average, and state regulations make it difficult and costly to build new housing.

The decline in domestic migration to California comes as its Governor, Gavin Newsom, has positioned himself as one of the leading faces of the Democratic Party. He aired ads in Alabama against the state’s abortion restrictions, and participated in a widely publicised debate against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. He made a mysterious trip to the White House while Biden was away in 2022, sparking speculation that he wanted to replace Biden on the next Democratic ballot — a suspicion he did little to dispel in his public appearances.

Earlier this year, the state’s Department of Finance released data showing that California’s total population size grew slightly in 2023, for the first time since before the pandemic. These figures are produced by the state and differ slightly from the national census data, and they attribute the slight population uptick to immigration, births, and a slowdown in the trend of interstate net population loss. In response, Newsom boasted that “People from across the nation and the globe are coming to the Golden State to pursue the California Dream and experience the success of the world’s 5th largest economy.”

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is UnHerd’s US correspondent.

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