The great California exodus continues, with a growing list of Hollywood celebrities leading the way as hundreds of thousands of people abandon the Golden State and its crushing problems to find a better life elsewhere.
California saw its third straight year of population decline in 2023, with the state’s population dropping 0.1 percent during the 12 months between June 2022 and June 2023. The number of people living in California dropped below 39 million this year, its lowest level since 2015, according to recently published U.S. Census estimates.
The state lost about half a million people between 2020 and 2022.
Among the problems driving people away are high taxes, soaring crime, out-of-control homelessness, and one-party Democrat rule — which seems to be making everything worse.
Other overwhelmingly blue states, including New York and Illinois, are also seeing population declines.
Meanwhile, red states like Florida and Texas continue to see surging population growth.
The flight of wealthy people from California — in addition to celebrities, Silicon Valley types are also fleeing — has resulted in a projected record $68 billion deficit for the state in the coming fiscal year.
The Hollywood stars who’ve moved out of California each have their reasons — some personal, some political. But what unites them is that California no longer holds the allure it once did.
Mark Wahlberg
The Oscar-nominated star moved with his family to Nevada so that he could “give my kids a better life.”
“So, we came here to just kind of give ourselves a new look, a fresh start for the kids, and there’s lot of opportunity here,” Wahlberg said in an interview last year. “I’m really excited about the future.”
“A lot of Hollywood is living in a bubble,” Wahlberg said in another past interview. “They’re pretty out of touch with the common person, the everyday guy out there providing for their family,” he said.
Sylvester Stallone
After decades living in Los Angeles, the Rocky star has moved with his family to Florida.
“It’s an incredible move, I have to say I’m really happy with our move and our change,” his wife Jennifer Flavin recently said.
Stallone revealed in his recent Netflix documentary Sly that the change of locale will hopefully inspire something creative in him.
“I wasn’t moving because ‘Oh, wow, I wanted another beautiful view.’ Any time changing that paradigm which you become used to, it’s literally to jump-start that process again,” he said.
Rod Stewart
The British rocker is selling his Los Angeles residence, saying he is fed up with the city’s “toxic culture.”
The 78-year-old star had initially listed his L.A. home for $70 million six months ago but upped the price to $80 million in his new listing. He plans to spend more time at his home in the U.K.
Sheryl Crow
The country music star said her decision to move from Los Angeles to Tennessee saved her life.
“I know how hard it is for especially young people — and I don’t know if anybody was pained by struggles like I did when I was young — but these are some tricky waters to navigate now,” she said earlier this year. “I’ll just tell you that, for me, getting out in nature really saved my life.”
Dean Cain
The Lois & Clark star quit California after decades, relocating to Nevada.
“I had to leave California. California has gone crazy in a sense,” he said. ” There’s been so much. Look at the taxation. Look at the regulations. Look at the silly laws that have been passed. There were things that I didn’t agree with, and I’ve been voting here and living here and working here my entire life. I finally got to a place where I was like, I don’t agree with this.”
Robert Davi
The Die Hard star (and director of My Son Hunter) left California for Florida.
“Dear Friends I quietly Moved to Florida 2 years ago,” the actor wrote in a recent X/Twitter post.
In his most recent article for Breitbart News, Davi praised GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s performance at the Republican primary debate in November, comparing his command of the stage to an expert knockout punch from Mike Tyson.
Kat von D
The celebrity fashionista and tattoo artist — who recently embraced Christianity — has bid farewell to California, moving to a small town in Indiana.
“Goodbye California!” she wrote in an Instagram post two years ago. “After much thought, we have decided we will permanently be moving to Indiana at the end of this year. We plan on selling our beautiful home here, and I will most likely open a private studio in Indiana once we are done with the house remodel there”
James Van Der Beek
The Dawson’s Creek star said goodbye to California, moving his family to Texas nearly three years ago.
As Breitbart News reported, the actor recently ripped the Democratic National Committee for backing President Joe Biden without allowing his challengers Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williamson to debate him on television.
“How is this a democracy?” he said in a social media video post.
Sean Patrick Flanery
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles actor also moved to Texas after years in California.
Speaking earlier this year in an interview with Breitbart News’ editor-in-chief Alex Marlow, he said he credits “traditional family values” — including hard work and meritocratic achievement — for the success he has experienced in his professional and personal life.
He said moving from California to Texas brought numerous benefits, including being closer to extended family members.
“I always wanted that for my kids,” he said. “We were thinking about going back and forth but we never actually did. We sold everything and our only regret was why didn’t we do it sooner?”
Nikki Sixx
The Mötley Crüe bassist says he and his family moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in 2020. “I wake up and I’m like, ‘I can’t think of a place I’d rather be,’’ he exclaimed.
The rocker said that the area’s outdoor activities like skiing and fishing make it a wonderful place to live, while his former home of Los Angeles is fine for the occasional visit.
“[During the pandemic] my journey took me back to a place where I can go fishing and see the mountains,” he remarked. “And then one day, my wife was like, ‘Why are we still here in California? This is a better place to raise our daughter.’ We find ourselves coming down to Los Angeles to see friends. But then we are happy to go back home. And we spend 95% of our time in Wyoming. It’s home.”
Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com
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