Staff Report
A news release from U-Haul confirms that California experienced the largest loss of one-way U-Haul trucks in 2021, with the company running out of rental trucks in the state. The top destinations for U-Haul’s trucks were Texas, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Arizona, while California’s population has been steadily declining due to factors such as expensive housing, long commutes, congestion, crime, pollution, and the growing ability to work from home.
According to census data, California’s population declined by over 500,000 people between April 2020 and July 2022, with the number of residents leaving surpassing those moving in by nearly 700,000. This trend is not slowing down, and the state’s population loss was only surpassed by New York, which lost roughly 15,000 more inhabitants than California.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the exodus from California as people leave the state for reasons related to the economy, health, and sociopolitical environment. According to specialists, high housing costs are the main cause of departure, but other factors also play a role. Natural change, or the difference between births and deaths, increased California’s population, but it was outpaced by other states’ population gains.
RELATED: California’s Exodus Continues: Half a Million Leave in Two Years, Straining State Resources
California’s population decline was the fourth biggest in the nation from April 2020 to July 2022, even when scaled for the overall population. In contrast, several of the most populous states in the US have seen significant population growth, with Texas and Florida leading the way with the largest population gains during the same period.-
