The California exodus has shown no sign of slowing down as the state’s population dropped by more than 500,000 people between April 2020 and July 2022, with the number of residents leaving surpassing those moving in by nearly 700,000. Much of the net migration out of California was “people seeking safe refuge during the pandemic” with parents or friends, causing people to “get out of the central cities,” said Dowell Myers, a professor of policy, planning and demography at USC. As California’s population has shrunk, some of the nation’s most populous states have added people at a considerable rate