California’s reputation as a place people dream of moving to is colliding with a stark new reality: more residents are loading their lives into rental trucks and heading out than at any point in recent memory. For the sixth consecutive year, the state has landed at the very bottom of a major moving index that tracks where do-it-yourself movers are going and where they are leaving.
Behind that ranking is a deeper story about affordability, taxes, quality of life and political choices that are reshaping the country’s population map. The numbers show a steady outflow of Californians, even as some cities still attract newcomers, and they highlight how aggressively other states are competing for the people and businesses California is losing.
U-Haul data shows California at the back of the pack
The latest figures from the U-Haul Growth Index put the trend in blunt terms. The company’s analysis of one-way customer transactions in 2025 shows that Texa once again topped the list of growth states, while California ranked last for the sixth year in a row. The index is built on where trucks are picked up and dropped off, so a persistent deficit of arrivals compared with departures signals that more people are using U-Haul to move out of the state than to move in, a pattern that has now hardened into a long running streak.
In the same dataset, Texas and Florida emerged as the biggest winners, with Texa reclaiming the top spot and Florida ranking second for net gains of one-way customers. California, by contrast, sat at the bottom of the same list, reflecting the greatest net out-migration of people using the company’s trucks. A separate breakdown of the index confirms that California had a larger net loss of one-way moves in 2025 than it did in 2024, underscoring that the outflow is not just continuing but intensifying.
Population data confirms a sustained outflow
Truck rental patterns can be noisy, but state demographic data points in the same direction. New estimates show that California recorded a net loss of roughly 216,000 Californians in 2025, with the balance between people arriving and leaving tipping clearly toward departures. That figure captures residents moving to and from other states, and it aligns with the picture painted by moving companies of a state that is exporting more people than it is attracting.
At the same time, California’s overall population story is more complex than a simple free fall. State demographers note that International immigration has been rebounding from pandemic lows, with Highlights pointing to the largest gain in fiscal year 2024 of 260, a shift that has helped offset some of the domestic losses. Even so, the same analysis describes a loss of over 89,000 residents tied to people moving between California and other states, which means that the exodus captured in U-Haul’s data is also visible in official population estimates.
Taxes, costs and the politics of leaving
Behind the raw numbers are policy choices that make it more or less attractive to stay. One analysis of the U-Haul rankings notes that California Ranks Dead Last in the Haul Index for Sixth Consecutive Year while highlighting that 3.5 percent is the Average top state personal income tax rate of the states that gained the most residents. By contrast, California’s tax structure is far more aggressive at the top end, and the report emphasizes that the biggest winners in the moving index tend to be no-income-tax states, a group that includes Texas and Florida.
Those fiscal differences are not the only factor, but they help explain why people who can work remotely or move their businesses are looking elsewhere. A detailed look at the outflow stresses that California Ranks Dead at the same time that lower tax states are marketing themselves as havens for entrepreneurs and retirees. Another report on the political stakes describes how the Haul ranking has become a problem for Governor Newsom, with Califo officials facing questions about why the state keeps losing residents even as its economy remains one of the largest in the world.
Who is actually leaving, and where are they going
It is tempting to frame the California exodus as a story about a handful of ultra-wealthy residents fleeing new levies, but the moving data suggests something broader. Reporting on rental truck patterns notes that California’s exodus is not just about a single Billionaire or a small group of moguls, but about regular people renting U-Hauls too. The same analysis points out that Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Illinois also ranked among the five states with the biggest net losses, suggesting that high cost, high tax coastal states are all grappling with similar pressures on their middle class.
On the destination side, the winners are clear. Florida ranked as the No. 2 state for one-way U-Haul movers in 2025, just behind Texas, with Florida described as the 2nd most popular moving destination in the Haul Growth Index. The same U-Haul Growth Index that put Texas on top and California at the bottom shows that Texas has become a magnet for people seeking lower housing costs and no state income tax. A separate summary of the moving trends notes that California once again leads the nation in people moving away, with The Brief explaining that the state ranked last on the Haul Growth Index for the sixth consecutive year and saw a larger net loss of one-way moves than before.
On the ground, an exodus that feels personal
For people watching moving trucks roll out of their neighborhoods, the statistics are playing out in real time. A segment from SAN DIEGO captures residents describing how the Haul Growth index, which analyzes one-way customer transactions during 2025, shows California ranks last with the greatest out-migration, and one local saying bluntly that they do not want to live here anymore. The report from SAN DIEGO underscores that the Haul Growth data is not an abstraction but a reflection of individual decisions driven by rent, crime, schools and a sense that opportunity lies elsewhere.
Other coverage of the trend notes that more people left California in 2025 than any other U.S. state, even as Two California metros still registered top growth in the nation. That apparent contradiction, highlighted in a detailed look at how While California is losing residents overall, shows that some cities remain attractive even as the state as a whole is exporting people. A separate video report explains that more people are moving out of California and that the Haul data confirms the state ranks last with the greatest out-migration, reinforcing the sense that the exodus has become part of daily life.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
Elias Broderick specializes in residential and commercial real estate, with a focus on market cycles, property fundamentals, and investment strategy. His writing translates complex housing and development trends into clear insights for both new and experienced investors. At The Daily Overview, Elias explores how real estate fits into long-term wealth planning.
