A new trend in statewide migration: Californians ditching coastal cities and moving inland

Click through the following slideshow to hear the stories of Bay Area folks who moved to Sacramento. less The populations of inland counties are growing faster than that of urban coastal counties, a California research specialist says. Click through the following slideshow to hear the stories of Bay Area folks who ... more The populations of inland counties are growing faster than that of urban coastal counties, a California research specialist says. Photo: Yellow Dog Productions, Getty Images Photo: Yellow Dog Productions, Getty Images Image 1 of / 30 Caption Close A new trend in statewide migration: Californians ditching coastal cities and moving inland 1 / 30 Back to Gallery

Researchers have uncovered a surprising trend in California migration: The populations of inland counties are growing faster than that of urban coastal counties.

Phuong Nguyen, a research specialist at the California Department of Finance, began noticing the influx of Californians to inland regions, like San Joaquin and Sacramento, around 2014.

"We were surprised at that," Nguyen said. California's coastal regions have historically drawn in-state migrants who leave their provincial hometowns in search of employment opportunity and urban environments.

The Department of Finance continued tracking the data into 2016 and 2017 and discovered the growth of California regions located further from the Pacific Ocean persisted. Nguyen expects the trend to continue in coming years.

It's a development that runs counter to the long-held narrative of small-town folks picking up and moving to their state's hubs of culture and commerce. Californians are still doing that – San Francisco's population grew just under a percentage point in 2017, per new Department of Finance data – but they may not like what they're finding. Culture and commerce? Check. Affordable housing? Not so much.

CALIFORNIA'S POPULATION: 20 million in 1970, nearly 40 million now

Cities like Sacramento are attractive to Californians on the move because of the region's thriving job market and ample supply of affordable housing, Nguyen explained.

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In 2017 the net domestic migration into Sacramento – the number of people who moved there, minus the number who left – was a whopping 1,466, about a 45 percent increase from the previous year. During the recession years, the net migration total hovered in the -2,000s.

By comparison, the Department of Finance found San Francisco had a 2017 net domestic migration of -2,332. Five years earlier, that number was 2,635.

Net domestic migration figures for San Francisco aren't completely trustworthy. Nguyen described San Francisco as a "gateway city" – an entry point for foreigners immigrating to the U.S. These immigrants will register with the city, but often move away within months to other parts of California.

Even then, "I would say there is a Bay Area exodus," Nguyen said. "The Bay Area is very congested and housing is not growing fast."

Sacramento, however, is "booming" and "cheaper" than its coastal counterpart, she said.

Last Summer SFGATE spoke to a handful of Bay Area natives who moved to Sacramento, and they confirmed many of Nguyen's hypotheses.

Brianna Mullen, a Concord native and UC Berkeley graduate, made the move eastward two years ago. The 25-year-old has since bought a house with a mortgage "only a couple hundred dollars more than my [Berkeley] apartment's rent."

"The financial stress of living in the Bay just wasn't worth it to me anymore," she said.

According to the Department of Finance data, that sentiment seems to be growing.

Michelle Robertson is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @mrobertsonsf.