For the first time in over one hundred years, California has experienced a population decline.

Many who’ve recently left cite reasons such as the state’s high taxes, cost of living, housing affordability, failing school systems, crime rates, and what could be considered a “non-favorable” business environment.

People and families across the spectrum are leaving in droves. It’s not just middle-class people seeking a more affordable way of life or better school districts. Multi-millionaires are moving their families south and taking their businesses with them.

It’s not just California. These days, major cities like New York and Chicago are also seeing a lot of outbound moving trucks. The motto for the southern recipient states seems to be “Come for the weather, stay for the tax breaks.”

The corporate landscape is changing and restructuring right before our eyes, and it’s happening very rapidly. The list of companies leaving California in favor of more financially friendly states only grows. Hewlett-Packard, Tesla, Oracle, Palantir, Charles Schwab, Toyota Motors, and Nestle are some of the more notable names to have left for states like Texas, Florida, and Tennessee. For better or worse, people go where the jobs are.

For example, Florida gained an average of nearly 1,000 people per day in 2019, which should be even higher in 2020. With the number of people moving to Florida it’s causing the real estate market to become so heated the state should rebrand from the “Sunshine State” to the “Sunburn State.”

The most recent U-Haul Report, gives us a good indication of who is moving where. In 2020, the report ranks Tennessee #1, Texas #2 and Florida #3 for having the most inbound migration. Wondering where California is? They’re last… and by a large margin.

So, what is an investor to do? To borrow a quote from my friend and mentor Robert Helms of The Real Estate Guys, “Live where you want to live, and invest where the numbers make sense.”