How many people are leaving California daily
Executive summary
California is losing roughly between 590 and 660 residents a day to other U.S. states based on the most recent annual domestic-migration estimates; the exact daily rate depends on which official series and year is used and on whether the measure counts July‑to‑July population components or IRS/U‑Haul mover snapshots [1] [2] [3].
1. What the headline numbers say: annual domestic outflow translated to daily departures
State and federal population reports put California’s recent annual domestic migration losses in the low‑to‑mid hundreds of thousands: the California Department of Finance reports a net domestic migration loss of about 216,000 people in 2024–25, which translates to roughly 592 people leaving per day (216,000 ÷ 365) [1]; the U.S. Census Bureau and attendant summaries note domestic outflows near 230,000 to 240,000 in adjacent reporting years, which convert to roughly 630–658 people per day [2] [3].
2. Why multiple daily estimates exist: different data sources and time frames
These daily‑departure calculations are simply the annual domestic migration tallies divided by 365, but the tallies themselves vary because agencies use different methods and cutoffs: the Department of Finance relies on birth/death records plus license‑change and tax‑return methods for migration apportionment (DLAC, tax‑match approaches), producing the 216,000 figure for 2024–25 [1]; the Census Bureau’s Population Estimates Program reports slightly different domestic loss totals depending on its July‑to‑July component accounting, and U‑Haul and other private indices use move‑requests or truck‑rental flows that produce comparable but not identical annual losses [2] [3].
3. What those daily rates do — and don’t — capture
A daily number like “~600 people leaving per day” describes net domestic migration only: it reflects the balance of people who moved from California to other states minus those who moved in from other states during the same year; it does not account for international immigration, births, deaths, or short‑term travel [2] [1]. For example, international migration in recent years offset much of California’s domestic losses—California recorded large international gains in some fiscal years (e.g., hundreds of thousands) that masked the domestic exodus in statewide population change [1] [2].
4. How to read the nuance: policy, methodology and partisan narratives
Different outlets emphasize different angles: government demographic summaries stress components of change and methods (DLAC, tax returns) and caution about year‑to‑year volatility [1], while private movers or business journals highlight directional trends and destination states [3] [4]. Political or editorial pieces sometimes conflate absolute counts of moves with net population change or treat mover‑company data as a proxy for all migration; those approaches can overstate or mischaracterize the phenomenon unless the underlying definitions are made explicit [3] [5].
5. Bottom line and reporting limits
Using the most reliable available component estimates, a defensible headline is that roughly 600 people per day have been leaving California for other states in recent annual periods, with a reasonable range of about 590–660 per day depending on the specific year and dataset chosen [1] [2] [3]. This figure should be read as net domestic migration per year averaged to a daily rate and not as a count of all movers on any given day; the reporting reviewed does not provide a single live daily tracker, and methodological differences between agencies mean exact daily tallies will vary [1] [2].