The number of people fleeing California is growing. Is the Golden State too expensive?

Texas, Arizona, Nevada and Oregon apparently looked pretty good to a lot of Californians last year.

About 691,000 people left California to live in other states in 2018, new census estimates indicate. At the same time, roughly 501,000 people came to California from other states, creating a net loss of about 190,000 residents in 2018.

From 2015 to 2017, California saw a net loss of between 129,000 and 143,000 residents to domestic migration each year, according to census estimates. (The state’s population continues to grow — though relatively slowly — due to migration from abroad and births.)

California has lost more people to other states than it has gained for much of the last two decades, census figures show. The trend last peaked between 2004 and 2006, around the height of the housing boom.

A 2017 Bee analysis found that people leaving California tended to be relatively poor, and many lacked college degrees. Higher up the income spectrum, slightly more people were coming than going.

California saw the biggest net loss of residents to Texas, Arizona, Nevada and Oregon, according to the census estimates, which are drawn from its annual American Community Survey. It gained residents from much of the northeast United States, along with parts of the upper Midwest.

Phillip Reese is a data specialist at The Bee and teaches at Sacramento State: 916-321-1137.