An annual report by one of the country’s largest moving companies again puts California as No. 1 in the nation — for people leaving the state on one-way trips.
Or, put another way, No. 50 on the U-Haul Growth Index.
The index, a report from the moving giant analyzing more than 2.5 million rental transactions, indicates the Golden State is on the top of the list of places where people have rented equipment to leave.
While an unofficial tally, the numbers also back up what the U.S. Census Bureau has reported for the state and, defying a yearslong growth trend, Santa Clarita also saw about a 3% population dip since 2020 in the most recent data available.
California’s population has declined by more than 573,000 people since April 2020, with the figure from July reported at 38,965,193. The city of Santa Clarita’s population in July was 221,345, down more than 6,000 people since April 2020, when the figure was 228,679.
In response to the data, Santa Clarita Mayor Cameron Smyth, a former state legislator as well, said that while the city remains a model throughout California, it can’t stay immune from the state’s onerous tax structure, growing public safety threats and economic factors.
And those challenges present larger and more problematic implications for the future of the state’s economy, he said.
Like most California cities, Santa Clarita saw significant growth between the 2010 and 2020 Census, when its population grew by more than 52,000 people, from about 176,320 to 228,673. The state grew by nearly 2.3 million over the same time period.
COVID-19 has brought fundamental changes to how the nation’s workforce is operating, Smyth said, and companies’ increasing use of remote and virtual options means employees in industries key to California can now work here and live somewhere their dollar might be taxed less.
“When you look at the state, 20% of California’s GDP is driven by the tech industry,” he said in a phone interview Wednesday. “And clearly, you have seen a significant transition in that and how a large number of those employees are leaving Silicon Valley because they don’t have to be there. You can extrapolate that out to companies in other sectors.”
Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, D-Chatsworth, said affordability, for her, was a top priority, which is why she fought for bills to address health care costs, childcare costs and housing costs, which were reasons people cited for leaving.
She also said the homeowner exodus represented a “double-edged sword,” because it also helps make more housing available, which California has repeatedly cited as a major need.
She said one of the goals of the Legislature has been to build more housing to help with the affordability issue, but the measures will take time to bear out and require the private sector to step in and build now that lawmakers have passed law meant to increase supply.
Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita was not immediately available for comment on the report.
U-Haul reports California as the No. 50 growth state in the U.S., continuing its run as the largest net-loss state of one-way U-Haul customers for the fourth consecutive year based on 2023 rental activity. Data available from the Census Bureau lined up with those rental figures.
The Census data indicate California lost about 35,000 people in 2020, around 358,000 in 2021, about 104,000 in 2022 and 75,000 last year, ranking first each year.
Texas, Florida and North Carolina were Nos. 1, 2 and 3, respectively in terms of population gains for year-over-year population growth, with Texas gaining 473,453 people, Florida gaining 365,205 people and North Carolina gaining 139,526 people. That also happened to correlate with the U-Haul list.
U-Haul’s data is aided by 23,000 truck- and trailer-sharing locations in all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces, according to the U-Haul report.
U-Haul’s data did include two nearby cities with a notable net-gain based on rental activity, although the Census Bureau data is not yet available to refute or verify: Palmdale and the city of Los Angeles.
While neither Palmdale nor the city of L.A. had 2023 population data available yet, Census Bureau data indicated the city of Palmdale has seen a similar decrease in relative population size (-3.5%) to the one Santa Clarita has experienced between April 2020 and July 2022. The city of Los Angeles lost about 75,000 people in that timespan.
