California lost a net of 340,000 people to other states from 2021 to 2022, with a growing number of residents leaving for Florida and Arizona.
The outflow from California to other states was lower than it was from 2020 to 2021, when about 410,000 more people left California than arrived, according to new migration data from the U.S. Census Bureau. But it was still far higher than in the years before the pandemic, when the annual net loss was fewer than 200,000.
The Census Bureau’s estimates for the calendar years, which don’t include international migration, are based on responses to its American Community Survey. The 2022 survey asked respondents whether they lived at a different place than they did a year ago, and if so, where they lived previously.
The emigration from California contributed to a slight dip in the state’s population from 2021 to 2022, from about 39,143,000 to 39,029,000.
Texas remained the most common destination for former Californians, with a net of roughly 60,000 people moving there from California from 2021 to 2022, census data shows. But that group was about 19% smaller than the net of 74,000 Californians who moved to Texas from 2020 to 2021.
The decline was due, in part, to a higher count of Texans moving to California from 2021 to 2022 than during the previous period — 42,000, compared with 34,000.
Texas wasn’t the only state that, while still a popular destination for people leaving California, saw a smaller overall inflow. Nevada, which from 2020 to 2021 had the second-highest total of people coming from California at 48,000, had a net of just 27,000 arrive from 2021 to 2022.
That meant Arizona, where a net of 47,000 California residents arrived from 2021 to 2022, became the second-most-popular destination for former Californians. That total reflected a slight uptick from 2021, when a net of about 42,000 people moved from California to Arizona.
One of the biggest surges in migration from California was among residents who went to Florida. About 22,000 more people reported leaving California for Florida in 2022 than vice versa, a 73% increase from the net of 13,000 the previous year.
In only a handful of states did more people move to California than arrive. New Jersey had the largest overall loss to California, with a net of 7,000 residents moving across the country.
But California received a much larger influx of people coming from other countries. The state saw a net of about 126,000 international migrants arrive from 2021 to 2022, the Census Bureau previously reported, the highest total of any state.
Reach Christian Leonard: christian.leonard@sfchronicle.com
