In The Wall Street Journal, James Freeman calls the steady stream of companies leaving California the “Flight Club.” It’s apt because just like David Fincher’s Fight Club, California politicians don’t want to talk about it. When asked about it by Dana Bash in a recent interview, Gov. Gavin Newsom immediately dodged the question. He didn’t want to talk about Flight Club. Watch:
Gavin Newsom gets called out for California’s soaring costs:
BASH: California has the highest cost of living — 11% higher than the national average.
NEWSOM: “We dominate in every key industry…”
BASH: “But people are struggling to afford things, like your mom was.” pic.twitter.com/o4QdDUv1iw
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 22, 2026
In his piece in the Journal, Freeman noted a report by the Public Policy Institute of California’s Eric McGhee and Hans Johnson in which the authors write:
Californians favor nearby states over states farther away and high-income Californians show a marked preference for low-tax states. But as prices rise outside California, those moving out have become more selective about where they move.
While many factors drive migration, the simplest are proximity and size: people move to bigger places over smaller ones, and to closer states over those more distant. California has a substantial net loss to Texas (21,438) and Florida (12,645) in part because they have large populations to begin with. And relative to the destination state’s population, California has a disproportionate loss to Nevada (13 per 1000 residents) and Idaho (10 per 1000 residents), in part because they are close. Other states receiving large numbers of Californians include the nearby states of Washington (17,475), Arizona (14,465), and Oregon (9,064).
Action Line: California has landed in the bottom ten of Your Survival Guy’s Super States rankings every year on record. Those bottom ten are what Your Survival Guy calls the “escape states.” Texas and Florida, prime destinations for California refugees, have scored near the top of my list every year. If you’re looking for a better America, check out Your Survival Guy’s recently released 2026 Super States. And click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
