The California Dream is fizzling out
The California Dream is fizzling out
By John D. Sutter, CNN
June 27, 2011 9:59 a.m. EDT
[…]
Census data outlines the state’s fall from grace. California grew at a slower rate from 2000 to 2010 than in any period since statehood in 1850, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released this year. Put another way: This is the biggest population slump in California’s history.
Many middle class people are leaving the state for Texas, Colorado, Nevada and Arizona, where taxes and the cost of living are lower. In the past decade, 1.5 million more people left California for other states than came to California from another part of the United States, according to analysis from the Public Policy Institute of California.
New births and international immigration make up the difference, but even immigration has slowed from sky-high rates in the 1990s, according to demographers, as people such as Maribel Mota, a recent arrival from Mexico, find themselves unemployed and behind on rent in the Golden State.
Mota, a 38-year-old who spoke to CNN through a translator, said she wants to go to Minnesota, where she hears there are more job opportunities and rent is lower.
She’ll trade sun for snow, she said, if it means she can make ends meet.
[…]
Related:
Best and Worst Cities for Renters
No. 5: San Francisco, Calif.
Average Monthly Rent: $1,720
Change in Rent year-over-year: 3.7% increase
First Quarter Vacancy Rate: 4%
Mortgage Payment v. Rent Payment: $1,906 cheaper to rentNo. 3: San Jose, Calif.
Average Monthly Rent: $1,362
Change in Rent year-over-year: 5.3% increase
First Quarter Vacancy Rate: 3.4%
Mortgage Payment v. Rent Payment: $2,321 cheaper to rent