Op-Ed: Are Californians fleeing en masse to Texas? The reality is complicated.
California’s population of 7.32 million people is the largest of any state in the nation. While Texas has the fifth-largest population in the country, more than 1.2 million people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, it is home to three out of every five jobs in the state, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But as the Golden State has continued to evolve into a cosmopolitan place, its largest city is now one of the least diverse in the country. It’s one of the reasons — and consequences — people in California are choosing to flee what is now a very diverse — and, for many, less economically opportunity-rich — state.
Here are some of the facts:
A little more than a third of California’s population lives in San Francisco metro, which has a population of nearly 3 million. The rest live in Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange, Santa Clara, San Diego, Contra Costa and Ventura counties. But California’s largest and most urban of the six metro areas has nearly half the population of all of them combined.
The Bay Area is the third-most diverse in the nation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It is also the fifth-largest metro area in the country.
The biggest exodus is from the South Bay, where a third of the population lives and there is little job creation, according to the California Economic Summit, which interviewed business owners. The Bay Area in particular has been a magnet for many people who are fleeing what is now a highly diverse housing market.
“We have seen a large migration to the Central Valley, and it will be more of the same — nothing but high speed traffic and congestion,” he said. “I predict we will see this process repeat itself.”
So what does this mean for the Golden State’s economy
