Every Company Leaving California: 2020-2026
Arguably since the first agricultural revolution 10,000+ years ago, work has been tied to a fixed location. That location-based work – first a farm, then a manufacturing plant, then an office – created opportunity. Opportunity attracted workers (or new citizens).
Therefore, we always formed cities, countries, and societies primarily through location-based opportunity. Go where the work is, as they say. For the first time in thousands of years, that trend is reversing. With the internet (and remote work layered on top), you now can bring your work (your livelihood, really) with you to any location. Now, cities and states offer remote work incentive programs.
This remote work revolution is starting to drive astounding second- and third-order consequences.
- If you can bring your work wherever you want, where should you live?
- If you no longer need to live near the office, what happens to our cities?
- If a company no longer has a physical headquarters, could it reside in a state or country with a more favorable environment?
First, the employees start to work from home. Then, the companies go fully remote. Then, the company itself moves to a better jurisdiction.
In this report, we’re talking about the third-order effect of the remote work revolution: companies leaving states. In the United States, the biggest trend has been with companies leaving California.
Below, you’ll find the data on all of the companies leaving California since 2020. We’ll update the full list (which you can access here) whenever a company announces its plans to leave the state.
Full database | Database sample | Notable companies | Notable statistics | By year moved | By new state | By headcount
👉 16 Notable Companies Leaving California Since 2020 👈
Or, access a sample of the database first.
Here are 16 well-known companies that have changed their headquarters from California to another US state.
Company | Destination | Story |
 PLBY Group (Playboy) | Florida | August 15, 2025 |
 John Paul Mitchell Systems | Texas | June 19, 2025 |
 Realtor.com | Texas | February 6, 2025 |
 X (Twitter) | Texas | "'This is the final straw,' Musk said in announcing that X would move its headquarters to Austin, Texas." |
 Chevron | Texas | August 2, 2024 |
 Neutrogena | New Jersey | April 12, 2024 |
 McAfee | Texas | January 20, 2023 |
 FICO | Montana | November 1, 2021 |
 Tesla | Texas | “To be clear we will be continuing to expand our activities in California,” Musk said. “Our intention is to increase output from Fremont and Giga Nevada by 50%. If you go to our Fremont factory it’s jammed.” But, he added, “It’s tough for people to afford houses, and people have to come in from far away....There’s a limit to how big you can scale in the Bay Area.” |
 AECOM | Texas | August 17, 2021 |
 Snowflake | Montana/ |
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 Charles Schwab | Texas | January 1, 2021 As part of the merger, the combined company’s headquarters would relocate from San Francisco to North Texas (Westlake)." |
 Oracle | Texas |
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 Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) | Texas | December 1, 2020 |
 CBRE Group | Texas | October 29, 2020 |
 Palantir | Colorado | August 19, 2020 |
We have individual pages on every company that has left California since 2020. Here are a few notable ones:
Download the database of companies that have left California.
Or, access a sample of the database first.
See Also: Every Company Moving To Texas | Every Business Leaving San Francisco (2020-2023) | Notable Companies Leaving Chicago
Notable Statistics About The California Business Exodus
Source:
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How many businesses are leaving California?
The Hoover Institution at Stanford published a separate analysis in 2022. According to the analysis, 352 companies moved their headquarters to other states just in the period from January 1, 2018, through December 31, 2021.
(Want to download the spreadsheet of every company? Download it here. Or, access a sample of the database first.)
Where are they going? Primarily, Texas.
See our report on all companies moving to Texas.
How big are the companies that have left California?
Why are companies leaving California?
I’ve pulled out notable phrases that company leaders mentioned when explaining their decision to leave California. Here are some samples to give you an idea:
- A move that will “reduce its state corporate tax rate by more than a third”
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Finding a place that is “easier to hire talent“
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In search of a “great talent pool” (in the new city and state)
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Seeking a “more sustainable place to do business“
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There is an “increasing intolerance and monoculture of Silicon Valley“
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Seeking “a strong economic climate with low taxes, reasonable regulations and a high-caliber workforce”
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Moving for “our business needs, opportunities for cost savings, and team members”
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There were “some symmetries in the way that the Bay Area works that just didn’t really work well for us”
- “Arizona provided the ideal conditions of being business-friendly, offering a high quality of life at reasonable cost”
- Employees can be homeowners in Texas, “which in the Bay Area is virtually impossible”
- “In California, local rules could dictate how the company chooses board members, for instance”
See Also: Every Major Company CEO Stepping Down | California’s 4-Day Work Week Bill
Sources
- News stories linked to from within the table
- The California Book of Exoduses compiled by California Policy Center
- Hoover Institution at Stanford
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