[ultramundane8]

The problem with this line of thinking is that a state is not a person is not a company is not an x. (Let's put aside any tangential Citizens United rebuttal.)

Or more simply, why is California one of the wealthiest economies? Is it because a typical California resident is one of the wealthiest people (on certain scales I wouldn't be surprised if this were actually true)? Or are there several subsets of people who are very wealthy due to California's unusually successful industries with global reach (I can think of two obvious giants.)? And how large are these subsets? If we answer all of these questions, we should answer your original question or at least come close.

Edit: Changed "every California resident" to "a typical"

[treeman79]

Weather. Much of California has such awesome weather.

I don’t want want to go back for many reasons, but man I miss the mild temperatures.