Here’s how embarrassingly bad things are in California, Illinois, New Jersey and New York.  Between 2012 and 2023 these big blues lost net population to the five poorest and traditionally most-maligned states. Here are the numbers from our Vote With Your Feet website:

California Net Lost Population to:
Alabama  12,900
Arkansas 23,300
Mississippi 2,300
Oklahoma 33,300
West Virginia 1,300

New York Net Lost Population to:
Alabama    7,100
Arkansas    2,700
Mississippi 2,100
Oklahoma   2,900
West Virginia  2,400

Illinois Net Lost Population to:
Alabama  10,100
Arkansas 7,200
Mississippi 3,800
Oklahoma 4,000
West Virginia 238

New Jersey Net Lost Population to:
Alabama 2,800
Arkansas 1,100
Mississippi 500
Oklahoma 800
West Virginia 1,800

We call this the reverse Beverly Hillbillies phenomenon. In that iconic TV show of the 1960s, Jed Clampett hits oil in Oklahoma and moves his family to Beverly Hills. Now Californians are leaving and moving to Oklahoma.