A couple who once lived happily in Southern California say they had to move south to buy a house.
Jillian Lovato and her wife Jamie had a good life in Orange County, but felt they had to leave the state to pursue their dream of becoming homeowners.
“My wife Jamie and I knew we wouldn’t be able to buy the house we wanted in California,” Jillian said Makelaar.com.
“We felt like we would have to live in a rental property for the rest of our lives.”
The couple traveled through Texas while making their decision, choosing Austin as their new city in 2021.
Jillian Lovato and her wife Jamie decided to move from Orange County, California, to Austin, Texas after realizing they would be “stuck renting for the rest of their lives”
All in all, apartments in Orange County, pictured above, have an average rent of $3,540, according to Realtor.com
In Austin, the Lovatos were able to purchase a home large enough for their dogs, with access to woods and local creeks.
They are just one of many couples who have decided to leave California because of the state’s high housing prices.
A UC Irvine poll released Friday and conducted by The Los Angeles Times indicated that more than a third of Orange County residents are considering moving elsewhere because of the cost of living.
The average monthly price for a one-bedroom rental in Irvine is more than $2,500 in August, up one percent from last year.
In Anaheim, the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment is just under $2,000, up 1.8 percent from 2023. Overall, apartments in Orange County have a median rent of $3,540, according to Realtor.com. Meanwhile, Austin has a median rent of $2,300.
Meanwhile, Austin, pictured above, has an average rent of $2,300
Texas is the most popular destination for people looking to leave the state. An estimated 102,000 Californians will move to the Lone Star State in 2022, attracted by the low cost of living and the lack of a state income tax.
A whopping 8.1 percent of home buyers in Texas come from California.
Jiayi Xu, senior economist at Realtor.com, noted that the median asking price in California in July 2024 — $777,900 — was nearly double the price in Texas, $380,000.
The large migration of residents from California to Texas has given rise to the term “Texafornia.”
According to Realtor.com, other popular destinations include Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Oregon, Washington and Tennessee.
Shown: Map of California and counties that have experienced population losses over the past five years
The flow of residents from California to Texas was the largest state-to-state move in the U.S. over the past two years. However, the population fell from more than 107,000 in 2021 to more than 102,000 in 2022 as real estate prices rose in Texas’ largest cities.
In Florida, the number of former California residents fell from over 37,000 in 2021 to over 50,000 in 2022. In Arizona, the number of residents fell from over 69,000 to 74,000 over the same period.
California suffered a net loss of over 113,000 residents last year. This number would have been much higher if there had been no migration from other countries to the state and no natural increase in births exceeding deaths.
Last year, more than 343,000 people left California for another state, the highest number of any U.S. state.