(1) Taxes. (2) Cost of housing. (3) A government that insists on intervening in every aspect of my life. (4) A culture of people who actively want the government to intervene on every aspect of their lives. (5) Traffic.

I can afford to live in California. I just don't want to. I spent 8 years in the Bay Area, love to visit, but ultimately I can have more freedom elsewhere.

- Enormous population density. Anywhere even halfway desirable has an outrageous housing market, very high rents, a homeless problem, or all of the above. I will straight up never be able to afford a house in CA. Even with a ~very~ small inheritance, I still wouldn't be able to afford a downpayment on somewhere decent in or near LA.

- Overcrowded nature. This one personally bothered me a lot. Many trails in Southern California are almost always crowded. Beach access is long, difficult, expensive (if you use a parking lot) and exhausting if you live inland.

- Fires. Fires get worse every year, and will continue to get worse. The AQI is constantly above 100 in some areas for most of August/September. For people like me with autoimmune conditions, this is pretty dangerous for health.

- Increased summer temps. 120 degree days are getting more common in many ares of CA.

- Government corruption. High taxes, especially if you're "middle class".

- Earthquake risk.

I moved to Upstate, NY. Yeah, the weather sucks, but not always. Fall is lovely. Early winter is lovely. Spring is lovely when it's not raining. Summer is humid and gross, but it's an absolute joy in my town with all the festivals. The housing market is crazy, but no so crazy that I couldn't afford a home. The town I live in has decent local government, several lakes, and abundant state forests and hiking trails all around.

I miss the LA I grew up in, but it's just not the same any more. I'm trying to convince my mom to retire out here.

High cost of living, constant fires, high taxes without good government services, homelessness everywhere, highly politicized COVID policies like lockdowns, lopsided political landscape with democrats controlling the entire state with no competition from another party to drive change.

TFA did not mention anything about "so many people".

Besides,

"Growth is not a goal for most Californians: Asked to look ahead 10 years, 35 percent of respondents believe it would be better if the population decreases significantly and 46 percent want it to stay about the same. Only 19 percent of those surveyed said that the state would be better if its population increases."

"By nearly a 2-to-1 margin, Californians respond that they still believe in the “California Dream” (that it’s a great place to live and raise a family) but belief in that dream depends on demographics, economic status and partisan affiliation. Spanish speakers, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans and younger Californians are more optimistic, while middle-class Californians, white respondents, older residents and Republicans are more pessimistic."

source: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/uc-studies...

Speaking for myself, the sole reason was cost of living and impracticality of owning a home anywhere within a reasonable drive of an urban center. While I was able to afford renting, I wasn’t getting anywhere with saving and wouldn’t have been able to change that without downsizing to a drafty shoebox of an apartment. That was fine in my 20s but now in my 30s, it felt a bit like I was spinning my wheels.

If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t mind continuing to live in California. There’s a lot to love about it, but it’s just not conducive to my current set of goals unless I manage to land a senior position at Google or something (which comes with its own set of problems).

because they can't afford to live there

I left because a mortgage for a single family home in a nice neighborhood was 40% less than the rent I paid to live in northern california, and my neighborhood now is quieter, cleaner, safer, and I don't have to step over human feces in the street anymore because we don't have a homelessness or housing crisis that won't be remedied in my lifetime.

There's pretty nature everywhere in America. And the weather isn't that bad most places.

high taxes, cost for everything is through the roof (even something like a McChicken from McDonalds is 30-40% more expensive here), if you live in the big cities then traffic can be a big problem. But for the majority, i think it is just the absurd cost of everything paired with high taxes.

"Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded."

Libertarian tech bros don't like progressive politics as a general rule