Thousands of California residents left their state for neighboring Nevada in October, according to real estate brokerage Redfin, as Angelenos ditch the City of Angels for Las Vegas, where houses cost about half the price.
According to a recent report by Redfin, Las Vegas was the second city with the highest number of people moving in from other states in October after Sacramento, California.
While Sacramento was the favorite destination of New Yorkers leaving the West Coast and of San Francisco residents, Angelenos were flocking to Las Vegas instead. Most of the 4,000 people who moved to the city in October came from Los Angeles, according to Redfin.
In October last year, the number of people who moved to Las Vegas was even higher at 7,100, with most still coming from Los Angeles. Thousands of Angelenos—about 2,800 in October 2023 and 2,700 in October 2022—moved instead to Nashville, Tennessee, according to Redfin.
The real estate brokerage said that homebuyers in San Francisco and Los Angeles are leaving these cities more than any other metros in the country. This assessment is based on net outflow, a measure of how many more Redfin.com users are looking to leave a metro than move in.
"It's typical for expensive job centers to top the list of places homebuyers are moving away from as those people seek more affordable housing," Redfin's report said. "Homebuyers leaving Los Angeles, for instance, are most commonly moving to Las Vegas, where homes are roughly half the price."
Some 25,700 San Francisco residents left the state in October, according to Redfin, together with 23,500 Angelenos and 2,100 San Diego residents. Homebuyers leaving San Diego also looked to relocate to Las Vegas, according to the report.
But why are Californians leaving their state for Nevada? The main reason is affordability. The second is that the weather is still nice and warm in Nevada and doesn't represent too much of a shock for Californians.
Redfin has also identified another trend between the cities most homebuyers are moving to, including Sacramento and several Floridian cities like Orlando and Tampa. They all face intensifying climate risks.
"Florida, for example, is endangered by hurricanes and flooding, and Sacramento and Las Vegas face risk from high heat," the company wrote in its report. "Insurers have pulled out of vulnerable areas in recent months, which could ultimately lead to a decline in home values in some places."
This might not make buying a home in these cities the safest investment—but definitely one that's more affordable. Nevada also offers a lower cost of living compared to California and lower taxes.
According to Redfin, Californian cities were still among the least affordable in the entire country. Someone making the median income in 2023 would have had to spend 85.4 percent of their salary on monthly housing costs in San Francisco, 73 percent in San Jose, 72.9 percent in Los Angeles, and 64.6 percent in San Diego.
Are you considering moving out of California for Nevada or any other state? Email g.carbonaro@newsweek.com
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek Reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on U.S. and European politics, global affairs ... Read more
