More people are leaving California currently than coming to it. Perhaps that isn't a biblical level exodus quite yet, but it's coming with time. Just be patient. Rome didn't fall in a day.
In some sense, it doesn't matter whether population goes up or down, we should not have a policy that population must always go up. But for CA the problem is that wealthier people are leaving while poorer people are moving in. This is exarcebated by a policy of high income taxes and low real estate taxes -- real estate is much less mobile than people. And this is further exarcerbated by a policy of very progressive income taxes, which makes the state budget sensitive to a small number of wealthier households leaving.
California still was at positive population increase before the pandemic because of foreign immigration. Also, Texas had more people than California just back in 1940, it isn’t weird that it’s huge growth over the last 80 years has come to an end.
Nope. Look at New York. Anyways, if you want to see the reality, do a Google for “California population”, it will include Florida and Texas in a graph that goes back to 1920.
And...where is NYC today? Definitely not a desolate bankrupt city with falling property values.
Also, San Francisco and the Bay Area are definitely not immune to the boom-bust cycle, there have been busts before and there will be busts again, just like any other boom towns.
change in population = migration from rest of word - californians leaving the state + births - deaths
In California, that means existing residents are moving out, people from the rest of the world are moving in. That has led to record low growth rates in 2019 (https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/05/california-populati...) and an estimated population decline in 2020 (https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/California-s-pop...)
In some sense, it doesn't matter whether population goes up or down, we should not have a policy that population must always go up. But for CA the problem is that wealthier people are leaving while poorer people are moving in. This is exarcebated by a policy of high income taxes and low real estate taxes -- real estate is much less mobile than people. And this is further exarcerbated by a policy of very progressive income taxes, which makes the state budget sensitive to a small number of wealthier households leaving.