Californians Move East

Joel Kotkin and William Frey report:

Coastal Californians migrating inland do so for many of the same reasons that earlier generations of Americans left the Midwest, Northeast and South. The cost of housing is by far the biggest factor driving the migration. Today, only 11% of the households in San Francisco and Orange counties, and 17% in heavily minority L.A. County, can afford a median-priced house. By contrast, affordability rates, though down from earlier this decade, are closer to 30% in most inland regions.

For many, this means the future lies east, and families are prominent in this movement. The under-35 population in the inland region has increased dramatically, and from 2000 to 2004, the number of children younger than 15 rose faster in inland areas that along coastal California, according to 2004 census data.

I guess not everyone can afford the coastal California.