Did 14 Percent of California's Population Leave as a Result of the Recession?

By JOANNE HALL (Patch Staff)

The recession made a monumental impact on the revolving population of the Golden State, according to tax migration data released by the Internal Revenue Service. Migration data is based upon year-to-year address changes reported on individual income tax returns filed with the IRS.

According to the Sacramento Bee, which analyzed the numbers, some five million people left California in the period between 2004 and 2013. However, because 3.9 million new residents moved to California from other states, the net population loss was just over one million people.

Texas drew the largest proportion of departing Californians, gaining 600,000 new residents. Conversely, about 350,000 people exited Texas to move to California.

With the largest housing sector among the fifty states, and the nation’s largest sub-economy, California took much of the brunt of the recession with foreclosures, massive job losses, cutbacks in consumer spending, and a collapse in business investment.

Photo courtesy Morguefile