Why Californians Who Left Are Still Moving Back in 2026: 1,757 Comments, Counted

Why are Californians who left still moving back in 2026? I keep hearing that people who sold and moved to Texas, Arizona, Idaho are coming home. I figured it was a handful of people with a great story. So I turned my little AI bots loose on it and I wanted to see what they'd come back with.

These little bots read about 1,757 comments and posts, 11 threads on City-Data 6 YouTube videos, plus X, and Hacker News Every time someone said why they came back or why they want to, they counted it once. Every quote you'll see is a real comment, word for word. So patterns emerged, the same five reasons over and over. So counting down from five to the number one reason, and the one most people would guess is number one, it barely made the list.

Number five, the cost didn't pencil out. You'd think this one wins. Only 18 of the 159 comments that gave a reason were about money. But the ones that did were brutal.

A tax lawyer said they've met plenty of Californians who moved to Texas for tax relief and came back because it ended up costing them more. Someone in Austin watched their property tax go up 75% in one year, and someone who moved to Texas to be near family summed it up in two words. Big mistake. So here's what the data says.

The tax foundation has Texas homeowners paying 1.4% of their home's value in property tax every year. California, 0.7. Twice as much. Now, Texas does have no state income tax, so that's something to consider.

That's how they fund it. That's Prop 13 doing its job. The catch is it only works while you stay in California. Sell, leave, come back, and you buy it at today's price with today's tax bill.

Money was number five. Number four is the one nobody budgets for. Number four, the lifestyle. 19 comments.

Somebody left for Texas because it was their words, dirt cheap. They lasted two years and eight months. Somebody else put it better than I can. A bad life isn't worth cheap costs.

And someone who left the Bay Area for the East Coast said they missed the culture, the landscape, the weather, and definitely the food. That's hard to put a number on, so here's one. The Marvin Braude bike path runs 22 miles along the beach from Will Rogers State Beach down to Torrance Beach. That's from LA County Beach and Harbors.

22 miles of beach you can ride on a Tuesday. Not me. That's a long way. A cheaper house doesn't come with the way you spend your Saturdays.

Quick one. If that's a part pulling you back, I built a quiz for it. Which South Bay Beach City fits your life? Nine questions, about three minutes.

It matches how you actually live, your budget, your commute, what your weekend looks like to a beach city. It's at quiz.southbayca.com/beach-city. The link is on the screen and below. If you don't want to be quizzed, reach out directly.

The call link is right there too. Okay, number three. Number three. Jobs and pay.

21 comments. Two people who left for Texas came back and said the low pay wasn't worth it. One commenter's friend worked for a company that moved its headquarters to Texas and told everyone, move or lose your job. The friend moved.

Then the company cut the salary in half. Back in California in under a year. And one commenter just said it straight. Remote work is ending.

If the office wants you in three days a week, your address follows the office. The Census Bureau's 2024 numbers median household income in California, is just over $100,000. Texas is just under $80,000. That's a gap of more than $20,000 a year.

That gap is real, and so are the prices here. The people who come back for work are the ones whose paycheck came back with them. Number two showed up in the most personal comments we read. Number two.

Family and home. 43 comments. My favorite is about some friends who moved to Houston. They didn't like the heat.

They didn't like how flat it was. But quote, that's not why they moved back. They moved back to be near their family. Someone who left in 2022 said they were moving back this year.

Prices are still ridiculous. All my family's back there. And someone else just said Texas was all work and no friends. Now the honest part.

The California Department of Finance says the state still lost a net of almost 290,000 people to other states in 2025. So no. Everyone isn't coming back. More are still leaving than arriving.

The ones who do come back usually aren't chasing a deal. They're chasing people. And number one beats this one by three comments. Number one.

The weather. Of course. 46 comments. More than anything else.

Someone lasted nine months in Arizona and ran back. Their words. It was all about beautiful California weather. Someone else left Santa Cruz for Seattle and cut their cost of living almost in half.

Then two long gray winters. No sandy beaches. And the famous Seattle freeze. They moved back.

And someone who tried Austin said in one line. Mistake. The heat alone was awful. Here's the National Weather Service.

In Austin, the normal high is 90 degrees or more than from May 26th to September 23rd for about four months. Every other reason on that list has a workaround. The weather doesn't. You fix that one with a moving truck.

So, if you're one of the people thinking about coming back, price out what you'll be coming back to before you sell what you have now. Book a free call with me. The link is in the description. Or take the quiz.

Which South Bay Beach City fits your life? Find it at quiz.southbayca.com/beach-city. Thanks for watching. We'll