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Comment by bwanab | Hacker News Reader

Personal anecdote: I moved from my red home state over 30 years ago for these same reasons. A huge number of the people I know in my current and previous blue states have been, like me, transplants from red states. Many came for the jobs, but a lot confess to have been motivated by the social/political climate.

The implication is that the red states will get poorer and the blue states will get richer per capita which has already been true, but if the trend continues will become more pronounced. Ultimately, this can't have good consequences.

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Yeah this doesn't seem like a new phenomenon at all, though the increasingly extreme politics of some red states does seem likely to push harder.

CA in particular also has the constant underlying filter of high QoL+CoL which will always be attracting those who can make the move (professionals). I left the Chicago suburbs for SV over a decade ago, and there was no shortage of folks among my peers wanting similar QoL upgrades with perceived cost being the barrier. No wacky politics necessary for that to have a brain drain effect outside CA...

> though the increasingly extreme politics of some red states does seem likely to push harder

The opposite is also true - the politics of blue states are becoming increasingly extreme as well.

I moved from a blue city in a purple state on the East Coast back to the very red state where I grew up primarily for that reason. The blue state was restricting homeschooling and making it increasingly difficult to legally carry a firearm, which are two critically important issues for me.

> CA in particular also has the constant underlying filter of high QoL+CoL which will always be attracting those who can make the move (professionals).

I could never move to CA given its political climate. A few years ago I was working for a company based in the LA area, and was offered an additional ~$120k base salary if I'd move there. It wasn't worth it to me.

An extra $120k? Damn, they're straight up paying your rent on a 3-4 br condo in Santa Monica/Beverly Hills/Hollywood Hills/Downtown, with cash left over to pay for $6/gal gas from Shell and groceries from Gelson's.

I'd be hard pressed to turn down that offer, and I vehemently _hate_ LA after living there some 20 years ago.

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