With the 2010s at their end, our “Redemption Decade” series explores how California’s economy rebounded from the destruction of the Great Recession. This is Part 4, on migration.

Despite all the economic turmoil, Californians remain surprisingly loyal. Yes, population growth has cooled but don’t blame some mass exodus to other states. The often-cited “net domestic outmigration” data — more moves out than relocations in — actually fell this decade. Here’s how my trusty spreadsheet sets the scene …

Then: In 2009, California’s population grew by 220,982, according to the state Department of Finance, despite net domestic outmigration of 249,652.

Now: In 2018, population grew by 214,625 as 159,421 more Californians departed to other states than came in.

The decade: Through 2018, the decade’s population growth has averaged 305,000 — down 16% from the 2000s. Moves to elsewhere in the U.S. averaged 81,000 vs. 111,000 in the previous decade and 145,000 in the 1990s.

The redemption

Let’s politely say a Californian who doesn’t like it here isn’t shy about departing. State data that dates to 1991 shows more exits than arrivals in 25 of the past 28 years — 1991, 1999 and 2000 are the outlier times when more moved here than left.

The state’s population continues to grow, albeit slowly, due to migration from foreign lands as well as more births than deaths.

But the relocation gap spurs noteworthy emotion. Some critics try to tie the trend to politics, suggesting folks moving elsewhere may be fed up with the state’s progressive agenda, which may have altered California life for the worse.

And while the legislature has been controlled by Democrats for virtually all of the past half-century, in 16 of the past 28 years the governor’s been a Republican. And guess what: Net outflows were nearly three times higher in those “red” years compared with years with a “blue” governor.

So with politics just a poor talking point, my trusty spreadsheet ranked the past 28 years by size of net outflow, then split them into halves — big and little — and weighed the population flows against other economic data. Certain surprising trends emerged.

When California has decidedly more outs than in, it’s a big outflow: an average 216,220 departures over arrivals in the 14 worst years vs. just 14,215 in the 14 best years.

The high cost of living also is a factor. Look at the California Association of Realtors’ homebuying “affordability” index, as one benchmark of how pricey California life is.

This index, gauging how many Californians might financially survive buying the median-priced home, showed 30% of households could comfortably purchase in the worst outflow years. It was 37% when outflows were lowest.

If departure swings are indeed about money, it’s also true for opportunity. For example, California bosses added an average 99,000 in the worst outflow years, less than half the 232,000 hires made when outflow was small.

Poor job prospects in California mean you’re thinking about leaving. But outflows are also about competition for workers. When the grass is greener elsewhere — green, as in paychecks — folks move.

In the years when California has been most likely to lose residents to other states since 1990, the Golden State created just 7% of all new U.S. jobs. When outflow was smallest, California had 16% of all American employment hiring.

So why did the gap between Californians leaving and out-of-staters arriving shrink this decade? Remember the 1990s economy was largely a dud. And the 2000s decade ended with the Great Recession’s harsh thud.

That adds up to bosses statewide adding jobs at a 308,000-a-year pace in the 2010s. It’s a hiring spree triple the average employment growth of the previous two decades.

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Yes, you likely have read that a seemingly big number of Californians go elsewhere. U.S. Census stats show 700,000 in departures to other states in 2018 vs. 510,000 Americans moved in … thus the eye-catching-yet-shrinking “not domestic outmigration.”

Note that 7 million Americans switched states last year. And California is the nation’s most populous state. If you focus on the California exits as a share of its nearly 40 million residents, the departures represent a tiny 1.8% per-capita “loss rate.”

That’s the third-lowest loss rate among the states and well below the rest of the nation’s 2.4% average. And it’s no one-year blip: California has long had a nationally leading “retention rate.”