Claim: California is dying.

Question

Hannity is saying California is dying because it has had a net decrease in population over the last three years. Is this true?

If so, does the decrease have any significant impact on the health of California? By what measures is the health of a state determined?

Answer 1

I wouldn't exactly say that California is dying, but an article written by Markie Young states that there are a lot of reasons that could lead to California slowly becoming a worse and worse state, and those are due to: population loss, the cost of living, housing crisis, homelessness crisis, crumbling infrastructure, lack of reliable transformation, wildfires and other air quality issues, crime, tech companies leaving, and death of the California dream. There are a lot of ways that California is going downhill, but it doesn't necessarily mean its dying. It just needs time to clean itself up. All states have their issues.

https://markieyoung.medium.com/why-california-is-the-fastest-dying-state-in-the-usa-a58d73ba6314

Answer 2

I would say that this is a little misleading. It hard to say if California itself is dying since that's a bit of a large and relatively subjective claim to make. It can be proven that its forests are dying which definitely has an impact on the state's wellbeing. Climate change impacts the whole globe but California forests have taken an especially hard hit recently with the additional droughts and insect damage. This can impact the health not only of the state but also the people living in it. It could also contribute to the decrease in population, but that's not really something you can pin on one specific issue since there may be a lot of factors impacting that. The same applies to the health of the citizens and state. This article provides more info on the declining tree rate as well as it's cause and effects:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/10/us/california-trees-dying.html

not misinformation

Answer 3

Like the other comments here, I would argue that the claim "California is dying" is overall misleading and hyperbolic. That being said, there is certainly room for improvement, particularly in regards to California's economy and use of resources. For one, housing costs in California are considerably higher than its neighboring states and many people are either unable to afford housing or feel that it makes more economic sense to purchase less expensive homes in other states, such as Texas. In addition to lower housing costs, the absence of income taxes in Texas, Nevada, Washington, or Florida makes living comfortably much more attainable than in California. In addition to the economy, California faces numerous environmental crises as a direct result of climate change. Factors such as wildfires and droughts impede on Californian's quality of life as well.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-03-23/column-which-californians-are-heading-for-the-exits

Comments

Thanks much. How would you rate the claim?

Answer 4

According to Cal Matters, a source specializing in California policy and politics, yes, the population of California is decreasing. However, considering the enormous population of the state and the reasons for people departing hopefully passing over in due time, I would not say that the state is "dying". Many people left the hugely populated state due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is fading more and more into memory each day. Homelessness and unemployment are also issues, although these statistics tend to rise and dip as time passes. One of the biggest issues is the natural disasters occurring in California, but with continued persistence to better our climate these will hopefully pass as well. Overall, this headline is an extreme exaggeration over a small statistic.

Source:

https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2023/02/california-population-exodus-housing/