This must be an American thing but I have never in my whole life even remotely considered the political opinions of my neighbours when choosing somewhere to live. I really, really just do not care even one bit.
Perhaps it's an American thing because the American political system has resulted in a complete lack of common-sense legislation; but it's absolutely justified.
(My background here: I'm an American living in the UK. I've been consistently surprised by the number of common-sense laws and regulations that are supported by even conservatives, or if not supported, are not immediately repealed once conservatives gain power.)
I'm saying I don't understand why one would be concerned about the politics of the people in the city they live in. It wouldn't even cross my mind to consider it.
I can’t imagine simply not caring, unless one is so wealthy that the laws don’t matter, or the kind of person who is never affected by their neighbors’ antagonistic voting.
Also, non-competes are banned in California but not in Texas. Moving to Austin means giving your employer a veto over your future career.
In the UK this is often disguised because it gets conflated with age: people want to live in the big cities when they're young, and when they're young they're more liberal. As they got older they get less liberal and want more space, so move out of the cities, so at no point does it feel like they're selecting where they live based on politics. But it does shake out that way regardless.
The USA is big enough and California far enough to the left vs other places, that even moving from one big city to another will yield noticeably different neighbourhood politics.
Fortunately where I live there is no political meddling in the school syllabus - standards are set nationally by the Education Dept and schools boards don't get voted in on political lines.
> standards are set nationally by the Education Dept