California, also known as the Golden State, is the most populous state in the U.S. Many consider California the ideal state to work, live, and retire due to its ideal weather conditions, high salaries, and the Silicon Valley. This is, unfortunately, far from the truth; California ranked in the bottom 15 states, 37th, in a study of the best states to live in. Here is a list of ten brutal truths about why California’s hype has crashed.
High cost of living
California is an expensive place to live in, and being home to many Fortune 500 companies can negatively impact the cost of living. The average cost of living in California is $53082, which is 38% higher than the national average. Utilities cost 22% more, while healthcare costs 8% more than the national average. These costs have made it hard for middle-class Californians to afford a good lifestyle, making them rethink living in the Golden State.
High housing costs
California is not the place to buy a house simply because not many, except the rich, can afford it. The median home price in California is $860500, which is 97% higher than the national average. For those who own property in the state, the average property tax rate is 0.71%.
Buying a house is not the only thing that has become nearly impossible; renting one in California is hard, too. Rents in California have reached the sky, with the median rent touching $2800. This is 33% higher than the national average and is hard to afford for many.
High taxes
California levies high taxes on everyone from its high earners to low-wage earners. The state also taxes retirement, which is making it undesirable among retirees. The state income tax ranges from 1% to 12.3%, with those making $1 million or above having to pay an additional 1% income tax.
Apart from this, the state also has one of the highest sales tax rates in the country; residents pay a total of 10.25% in sales tax.
Infrastructure
California, despite being a tech and industrial hub, has poor infrastructure. The Golden State’s infrastructure has been plagued by numerous issues, including crumbling roads, aging water systems, and inadequate flood management. The state’s infrastructure is in dire need of repair and modernization, with many systems operating at or near capacity. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave California’s water infrastructure a poor grade due to issues like aging pipes, inadequate flood control, and a lack of funding to address these problems.
Housing shortage
One in eight Americans live in California; the huge population combined with exorbitant home prices in the state has led to a housing shortage. The state has been facing a housing shortage since the early 2000s. Experts point out that another major reason for the shortage is that fewer housing permits are being granted in a state that requires 180,000 housing units every year.
Weather
California is known for its pleasant weather, but the harsh truth is that it can be extreme and dangerous. California is the worst state in the country for fire dangers. Wildfires are rampant across the state during summers, burning millions of acres of land every year.
There is also the case of a constant drought in the state; experts say that the state has an annual dry season from May to September. California also has bouts of extreme floods and storms that lead to mudslides, power cuts, and deaths.
High taxes
California levies high taxes on everyone from its high earners to low-wage earners. The state also taxes retirement, which is making it undesirable among retirees. The state income tax ranges from 1% to 12.3%, with those making $1 million or above having to pay an additional 1% income tax.
Apart from this, the state also has one of the highest sales tax rates in the country; residents pay a total of 10.25% in sales tax.
Unemployment
California, once regarded as the best place to find jobs because of its thriving tech scene and other strong industries, today has the highest unemployment rate in the country, 5.3%. The tech sector, which overhired during the pandemic, started laying off people. Apart from this, workers in other sectors like entertainment, media, and hospitality also lost their jobs within the last three years. Even those who have jobs report that they are not stable. Unemployment is one of the primary reasons for the crash of California’s hype.
Poverty
The poverty rate is 13.2% in California; one in three Californians are living in or near poverty. Some of the major reasons for such high poverty rates in the Golden State are high income inequality, unemployment, the affordability crisis, and high costs of living. California is an expensive place to live; it is the third most expensive state in the U.S. The hourly wage needed for a single working adult in the state is $54, but the minimum wage is only $16. This has increased poverty among the working class, with 8.1% of working adults living in poverty in early 2023.
K-12 Education
California is home to some of the best colleges in the world, like Stanford, California Institute of Technology, UC Berkeley, and many more, but at the same time, California is also ranked as one of the worst states for public education, 37th out of 50 in education attainment. California’s public schools are underfunded and understaffed, and the quality of education in California is low. The scores of students in the state’s standardized tests have seen significant declines, with less than half of all students meeting the state standard in English language arts and one-third in math. Almost 47% of Californians believe that the quality of education in the state’s K–12 public schools has worsened over the past few years.
Air quality
Despite the hype around California’s environment, the state has the worst quality in the country. The severe wildfires and mountain terrains that trap pollution, along with the state’s high population, port industry, agriculture, construction, and domestic emissions, all contribute to the worsening air quality. Many thought of California’s cities as the best places to live and work but twelve of California’s cities were in a list of twenty-five most polluted cities in the U.S.
Homelessness
California has a huge homelessness crisis, with over half of America’s unsheltered homeless people living in California. The root cause of California’s homelessness crisis is the chronic shortage of affordable housing. More than 181,399 people in California are homeless, out of which 10173 are youth, making the state rank first in youth homelessness. Three of the state’s top cities, San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles, famous for being the heart of Silicon Valley and Hollywood, respectively, have the largest homeless populations in the U.S.