I & I Editorial BoardOver the weekend, we came across two stories about California that, combined, tell you just about everything you need to know about this one-party state.
One, from the Daily Signal, carried the headline “Homeless Up 20% Under Newsom.” The other, which appeared in Fox News, said that “California Is Losing Billions In Taxpayer Income.”
The first story noted that, despite spending $37 billion – with a “b” – to “fight” homelessness, the homeless population increased by 20% from 2019 to 2025, according to data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Actually, Newsom’s record is worse than that because, in his first year in office, the number shot up by more than 10,000. So if you compare 2025 to 2018, the increase in the homeless population is closer to 40%.
Either way, it’s a monumental failure. In June, the Trump administration tried to cut off federal housing aid to California amid allegations of rampant fraud in its homeless program.
While the homeless are moving into California, companies and jobs and families are packing up and moving out.
From 2020 through 2025, 1.6 million more people fled California than moved in. No other state saw that dramatic of an exodus. (A huge influx of legal and illegal immigrants offset most of these departures, but even so, the state’s population is 200,000 lower than it was in 2020.)
Where did they go? To states such as Arizona, Texas, Florida, and others that have kept their governments in check, their taxes low, the quality of their education high, and that welcome businesses instead of treating them like the enemy.
And in the second story that caught our eye this weekend, IRS data show that all these California refugees took their tax dollars with them. In just one year, 2023, the state lost billions of dollars in tax revenue from people who moved out.
As Fox News noted:
Los Angeles County, home to Hollywood and one of the nation’s largest economic engines, led the nation in taxpayer losses, with a net 17,496 tax filers leaving for other states. Those departing taxpayers took nearly $1.9 billion in income with them.
Other California counties also saw significant outflows. Orange County recorded a net loss of 11,618 tax filers, followed by San Diego County with 9,401, Riverside County with 8,968 and San Bernardino County with 8,462.
To make matters even worse, even as taxpayers were leaving the state, the California government kept spending like there was no tomorrow.
In the eight years Newsom has been governor, per-capita government spending shot up 68%, and the number of state government employees per-capita went up by 27%.
It’s all likely to get much worse if Prop 40 passes in November.
This public-sector-union-sponsored ballot initiative would impose a (supposedly) one-time 5% tax on the net wealth – not annual income – of the state’s billionaires to pay for still more government spending. If the polls are correct, California voters will approve it.
Mark Cuban – who actively campaigned for Kamala Harris in 2024 – is warning that this tax will drive not just billionaires out of the state, but entrepreneurs as well.
“If this passes, and it doesn’t directly impact me at all, I won’t be a Cali resident, but you can bet if I’m investing in a multi-billion-dollar startup, I’m asking them to move from California first,” Cuban wrote.
In effect, California under Newsom has put out the welcome mat for the nation’s homeless, while attacking anyone who is productive.
Is it any wonder then that the takers are moving in while the makers are saying adios?
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
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While Newsome put out the welcome mat for the homeless and those who are vagrant he swiped away the welcome mat of those who were productive and (it turns out) foolish-for staying in California as long as they did.
Yes, the weather and easy living attract the productive but it also attracts the homeless.
Sorry California, but electing Newsome as Governor and Bass as LA’s mayor, you brought it on yourselves.
Homelessness is growing faster in Alaska than California. The population of West Virginia is declining faster than that of California. When will we see stories here about that? Right-wingers love to knock California. Why? Are they so attached to their stereotypes that they are willing to permanently forego 54 electoral votes?
Not sure where you are getting your information, but West Virginia saw a gain of 16,553 from net domestic migration from 2020 to 2025, and a gain from immigration of 5,136, according to Census data. The only reason it lost population over those years (all of 27,612) was that there were more deaths than births in the state. And are you seriously comparing Alaska’s homeless population (which is around 2,000) to California’s? My question to you would be: Why are people on the left so willing to ignore the plight of Californians? Because you are so attached to your ideology?
We agree that West Virginia lost population, and it’s by a greater percent than California. Now you want to go into the reasons. For West Virginia, the migration gain was not enough to offset the demographic decline as you noted. Then it would be fair to say California is losing population because of the high cost of housing. Why is it expensive? Because it’s a desirable place to live. What are we doing about it? Raising density limits in the zoning laws and building a lot of new housing. Is this ignoring people’s plight?
Yes, Alaska has a lower absolute number of homeless, but the article here flagged the growth rate. California will generally top every category in absolute numbers, because it’s the highest population state, while Alaska is one of the lowest. Is California ignoring their plight by spending $37 billion on it as the article points out? Then what’s the right-wing answer to homelessness and why is it apparently not working in Alaska?
I live in California and would like to have the option of considering voting for a right-wing politician, but the ones available here generally come with a lot of baggage around cultural wedge issues and Trumpism, besides the general popularity of anti-California narratives on the right as we see in this article.
There’s a problem comparing growth rates when the denominators are so wildly different. If I have one penny, and find a penny, I’ve doubled my money. But that doesn’t make me rich.
People are leaving California because the cost of living, not just housing, is too high. You should check out this study: https://www.pacificresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/CA_Crossroads_Final.pdf And housing costs are high because the state makes it too hard to build homes to meet current (and declining) demand. Vote for Prop 45 if you want to start things moving in the other direction.
I live in California, and I’d take a right-wing politician with baggage over the incompetent Democrats running the state into the ground any day.