O.C. families in the $50,000 to $100,000 range have been moving away, census shows.

Jonathon Lansner has the story on the middle class exodus out of Orange County,California:

I can only think of one reason why Orange County's midsection, economically speaking, is taking harsh body blows: home prices.

In this 2000-2003 period, the typical sales price of a local home soared 54 percent.

Either these middle-income folks who left were frustrated in their search for a home they could afford - or they cashed out home profits and took them elsewhere.

Look at what another census population study found: 68,000 local residents moved out of Orange County from 2000 to 2003, the 12th-largest of such departures among all U.S. counties.