
List of companies leaving California grows, citing high tax burden, cost of living
(The Center Square) – Leaders of corporations have been leaving California for years, relocating their headquarters, or their entire operations, out of state, citing high cost of living and one

Family businesses can’t be left holding the bag in California
Between 2008 and 2019, some 18,000 companies left for states with better tax and regulatory policies.

Companies are leaving California and quickly. And the number is nearly 18k!
California’s extremely progressive income tax structure means that the top 1% of taxpayers pay nearly half of the tax.
California saw a cumulative decrease in adjusted gross income between 2010 and 2018 of $24.6 billion, according to an new analysis of IRS data by the independent research website Wirepoints.
While large and small companies are relocating primarily to Texas, other destinations include Arizona, Tennessee, Florida and a few other states.
The first to announce its exodus this year was Digital Realty Trust, a $36 billion company with over 1,500 employees. It announced last month it was relocating its global headquarters from San Francisco to Austin, Texas. The real estate investment trust will keep some of its presence in the Bay Area but is relocating the bulk of its operations to Texas. Its CEO, A. William Stein, said he’s doing so because of Texas’ “central location, affordable cost of living, highly educated workforce, and supportive business climate.”
Stitch Fix, a personal style service, began to disinvest in California and reinvest in lower-cost states last year. The $8.3 billion company formerly based in San Francisco laid off 1,400 stylists in California last June. By December, it began creating a new distribution center in Salt Lake City and this month announced it was shutting down its South San Francisco distribution warehouse altogether.
The California Policy Center has catalogued at least 50 large corporations that have left California since 2014, with the vast majority leaving in 2019 and 2020.
Of the six corporations that announced their California exodus so far this year, four relocated to Texas. First Foundation, a California bank, moved its holding company to Dallas; Digital Realty Trust moved its data center to Austin, following Oracle, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Tesla, which all announced their exodus last year.
Amazing Magnets, a magnet manufacturer, already broke ground for its new headquarters in Round Rock, a suburb of Austin. ZP Better Together, a company providing tech solutions for the deaf, also relocated its headquarters to Austin.
High profile entrepreneurs also left California last year. Billionaire Elon Musk, radio host Joe Rogan and DropBox CEO Drew Houston all moved to Texas.
Notable California venture capitalists David Blumberg, Keith Rabois and Shutterstock’s billionaire founder Jonathan Oringer left Silicon Valley for Miami, arguing San Francisco is poorly managed. Tech billionaire Larry Elison left California for Hawaii. Conservative talk show host Ben Shapiro left Lost Angeles for Nashville.
Obviously this is not great news for the state. Maybe give the other party a chance?
Truth over Facts