The beginning of a trend...?

For the first time since the government started keeping statistics, California has lost more residents to other states than it gained.

WASHINGTON — Although the state's population continues to grow because of immigration, more people left California in the last half of the 1990s than moved in from other states, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released today.

More than 1.4 million people in the U.S. migrated to California from 1995 to 2000, while 2.2 million left — the highest migration numbers in the country. That exodus is "unprecedented," said Hans P. Johnson, a demographer with the Public Policy Institute of California, an independent San Francisco research organization.

Even so, the state's estimated population was still a whopping 35.1 million in 2002.

The article says a big reason people are moving is the cost of housing, and I can vouch for that. I saw a sign yesterday advertising a two-bedroom house for rent in my neighborhood for $2,200/month!

Complete story here.