High housing costs, not culture, are pushing families to move
California is still home to more Latinos than any other state. But in recent years, it has also become the state with the largest net loss of Latino residents, a shift driven less by identity or politics than by a simple reality: affordability. New data from 2024 and 2025 show tens of thousands of Latinos leaving California for states where housing, taxes, and daily costs are lower — even as the state’s Latino population remains numerically strong.
Demographic estimates from 2024 indicate that nearly 60,000 Latino residents left California on net, the highest such loss of any state. This does not mean Latinos are abandoning California en masse. With an estimated 15.6 to 16.1 million Latino residents, Latinos still make up about 40–41% of the state’s population, sustained by births and long-established communities.
But migration patterns tell a clear story. According to the U-Haul Growth Index, which tracks one-way household moves, California ranked as the No. 1 state people moved out of for the sixth consecutive year in 2025. Popular destinations included Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington — states consistently cited for lower housing costs and fewer affordability pressures.
Not just a Latino trend
Importantly, Latinos are not leaving California at the highest proportional rate. Research examining migration from 2016 to 2020 found that non-Hispanic white residents had higher net out-migration rates than Latinos. What makes Latino out-migration stand out is scale: because Latinos are such a large share of California’s population, even modest rate changes translate into large absolute numbers.
“This is a cost-of-living story before it’s anything else,” a migration researcher told CalMatters in recent reporting. “Families are making pragmatic decisions about where they can buy a home, raise kids, or run a small business.”
Why Texas keeps coming up
Texas has emerged as a consistent destination, especially for working- and middle-class families. U-Haul’s January 2026 report noted that Texas reclaimed the No. 1 growth state ranking in 2025, fueled by inbound moves from California and other high-cost states. Lower home prices, no state income tax, and faster housing construction continue to be major draws.
California’s Latino population is not collapsing — but it is redistributing. The long-term risk is not cultural loss, but economic imbalance: when essential workers, young families, and small-business owners leave, the state’s housing and labor systems feel it.
California remains a Latino powerhouse. The question now is whether it can remain affordable enough to keep the people who built their lives there.
