Every Company Leaving California: 2020-2024
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 | Notable companies | Notable statistics | By year moved | By new state | By headcount
👉 20 Notable Companies Leaving California Since 2020 👈
Here are 20 huge companies that have changed their headquarters from California to another US state.
Company | Destination | Story |
 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 |
 SpaceX | Austin, TX | July 16, 2024 |
 Neutrogena | New Jersey | April 12, 2024 |
 Skillz | Nevada | "Mobile gaming company Skillz is leaving Downtown San Francisco and to open new headquarters in Las Vegas, according to the Las Vegas Sun." |
 Kelly-Moore Paints | Texas | April 25, 2023 |
 McAfee | Texas | January 20, 2023 |
 Lucas Oil Products | Indiana | November 1, 2022 Lucas Oil Products is also relocating its wholly owned MAVTV cable network from Corona, California to Indiana." |
 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.” |
 First Foundation Bank | Texas | September 26, 2021 |
 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 |
 Pabst Brewing | Texas | "San Antonio is filled with opportunity and creativity, it has a great talent pool, high quality of life, and is experiencing a cultural boom that we’d really like to be a part of,” he said. “The affordability of the city does make it attractive to business(es) and employees.” |
 Palantir | Colorado | August 19, 2020 |
 NortonLifeLock (Symantec) | Arizona | "The tech company wants to find a buyer for 10 buildings in Mountain View that together total 707,000 square feet. |
Download the database of companies that have left California.
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?
According to Buildremote’s primary research, 158 companies have left California from 2020 – September of 2024:
- 2020: 35
- 2021: 54
- 2022: 29
- 2023: 29
- 2024: 11
- Total: 158
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.)
Where are they going? Primarily, Texas.
In my list current list, there are 158 companies that have left California between January 2020 – September 2024.
These companies have moved to 28 different states, one country, and one moved employees to multiple states). Of those states, here are the biggest beneficiaries:
- Texas: 88
- Florida: 12
- Arizona: 7
- Colorado: 6
- Tennessee: 6
- North Carolina: 6
- Nevada: 3
- Ohio: 3
- New Jersey: 2
- Missouri: 2
- New York: 2
- Mississippi: 2
- Montana: 2
- Multiple locations: 1
- Luxembourg: 1
- 15 states: 1
See our report on all companies moving to Texas.
How big are the companies that have left California?
Here are the companies leaving California by number of employees:
- 1 – 10 employees: 21
- 11 – 50 employees: 38
- 51 – 100 employees: 12
- 101 – 500 employees: 42
- 501 – 1,000 employees: 10
- 1,001 – 5,000 employees: 17
- 5,001 – 10,000 employees: 3
- 10,001+ employees: 15
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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Chevron is not moving its headquarters out of CA
The Chevron is just stupid
They should! As long as Californians keep voting for greasy Newsom, California will be a state of homeless, drug addicted, and mentally ill people. Anyone with half a brain can see what Newsom has done to this beautiful state woke is a joke!
I think Newsom is merely a symptom. The responsibility for California’s decline economically and socially lies squarely on the shoulders of the voters.
Texas voters could have chosen candidates like California Democrats. They chose not to.
California voters could have chosen candidates like Florida and Texas Republicans. They, too, chose not to.
‘Intolerant monoculture’ really does sum up California’s electorate, and that has consequences.
Sounds like political prejudice has worked its nasty magic on schadenfreude-loving conservatives.
California is the fifth-largest economy on Earth. I understand how jealousy works.
George,
I can tell you jealousy is not a premise for the fiscal disaster that is California. I live in Georgia. I grew up in Nevada but have lived in Georgia awhile. I also lived in CA during my military career for a number of years. California is a beautiful state but is way too expensive to live in – I like visiting and will again but I’m not jealous of what California politicians and the voters who continually return those politicians every election cycle have – in fact I’ll opt for the financial surplus we have in Georgia. I’d say that’s the opposite of jealousy. Being a large economy is not a measure of financial responsibility or accountability.
California is the fifth-largest economy on Earth. I understand how jealousy works.
Somehow I doubt you understand much… given you’re from California I bet you think you do though. Message from the other 49 states, just break off and go away already with your 5th largest economy
True, at least not yet. But by late 2023 they will have moved the bulk of the hq operation from Frisco to Houston, having sold the CA hq building, and are now leasing a space 1/3 the size of the former Frisco hq. source: sfchronicle “Chevron sells San Ramon HQ property as it shifts more workers to Texas” and californiaglobe
https://tinyurl.com/bdhxn584
It is leaving….
“..Chevron Corp. is planning to sell its current headquarters in California and is offering to cover costs for some employees to relocate to Texas1. The company has sold its San Ramon corporate headquarters to Sunset Development Co. and plans to move into a nearby leased space about one-third of the size23. Chevron has been helping to pay relocation costs for Bay Area employees voluntarily moving to Houst..”
Thay already did.
Oh yes it is!!
It turns out that they are moving.
What is the total $ impact in income and taxes?
Say, wasn’t “Chevron” originally “Standard Oil Company of California”?
Good thing they changed the name – makes the move easier.
Franchise Tax board is the real enemy of the state …
My wife and I attended Oracle OpenWorld Annual Conference at Moscone Center for almost 20 years. My wife would do her Christmas shopping (Ross & other stores) and I presented and attended conferences for the week. We had a wonderful week and spend a ton of money. We stopped attending (as have many of my colegues) about 7 or 8 years ago. I retired just before Oracle relocated to Texas and changed the venue for OpenWorld. I feel sorry for San Francisco businesses but my wife wouldn’t leave the hotel without me and we were constantly accosted as we ventured out of our hotel. We just don’t need San Francisco that much. I’m sure you’ll find thousands of people just like me that have left San Francisco for good and for good reasons. Sorry..
I moved out of CA some years back with a transfer. Looking at the situation created by Gov. “Nuisance” makes me think I had tremendous foresight those years back. I miss San Diego the most but it is not the same “town” that I once knew. “Adios” CA.
So…I have been considering moving to Texas since the beginning of the year. I visited S.A. in December and was surprised at how much I had been brainwashed politically by living in CA my entire life. I’ve since learned that I am not the “bleeding heart liberal” I thought I was. (Mind you I am very much a supporter of human rights, social equality and 2nd chance rights) however, I also believe that this state has an ulterior motive for the inflicted destruction of the economy. It is a ploy to rid the state of low income, poverty level work producing population and make it a state that only houses the rich and the helpless to keep the gap large enough for the rich to stay/get rich. I work among the unhoused and have been there myself. The CA system is set up not for the success of this population but to keep them in a viscous hamster wheel of despair. If there is any hope for the poverty stricken population to survive in CA it would mean a larger voice base against the wrongs that the government has perpetrated. Now mind you, I don’t agree with some of Texas’ political views and laws that they ensue. My body..my right! In addition, it is between my child’s God as to their relationship and her identification as a female. No o e else’s! My kid does not infringe on anyone’s right to live because of how she identifies. Other people’s beliefs do not apply in any other person’s life period. It is a belief not a fact. Yet, I have become so hard hearted to my inability to successfully work around my disability and NOT be penalized for it, have a possibility of having a home that I own so my grandchildren will have a place where they visit Gamma and create memories from and most importantly I want to be a part of a community where principles of “if you work hard, you’ll be rewarded” is the foundation. Here, I was working hard, but because I was, I had my disability taken away from me, even though it is permanent and stable, the decision made by a person who has never stepped foot in medical school, and I was penalized by the policies created on how the income I reported was tallied in opposition of how it is really delivered and spent, so I ended up with a 16,000.00 over payment. Let me add that I was only receiving $852.00 a month by the way, oh and they didn’t even catch it until I had to reapply because of my inability to work full time. Let me recap, I got $16,000 in a year and a half of time, so it’s quite easy to understand how broken the system is here when the calculations (it’s federally funded, state regulated btw) aren’t adding up. So I have had to make some seriously difficult decisions lately, and just in the last day and a half, even tougher ones because I have received an eviction notice from my landlord even though I have an outside source who is helping with my rent. That is now causing extra stress on me and my disability is reactive to stress so that is another battle in and of itself. This report has now been the nail I needed to finish the building I started back in January. This is a state of disaster in CA, yet the government sits by and does nothing. Oh wait, yes they do, they pull funding from who knows where to apply it to programs that are supposed to provide assistance for those like myself who are struggling, but within the parameters that are created to qualify for funding, the funding is impossible to get. Anything left over that has “not been distributed” is free game for the state to re-allocate to wherever it wants. Oh and did I mention that the funding that does come from the feds or the state is given to organizations who take 55% right of the top for administrative expenses. So 45% of funding left with incumbent parameters that nearly everyone doesn’t meet, and the rest get to go to a general state fund. The general state fund that pays the politicians their salaries. Hmm.. well anyway it is all in a days work for them. Meanwhile, no one speaks out about it here, the fear isn’t about backlash, it is how can I efficiently raise my voice to this outrageous political issue and still be able to take care of myself, my family etc. Well there is the answer. It is so disgustingly bad here that there is no other choice but to do what it takes to live. There is not both, there is no in between. Those that were part of the “mass exodus,” they were the greatest threat to our political system here and they left because the loss of fight this battle was too great compared to the end result that takes years to accomplish. I will be leaving my (adult) child behind, because her safety is my biggest concern, and I will use my voting right and voice when the situation crosses my path, to speak to the facts not beliefs, and live in a way that this entire nation should be providing for their citizens. Right to work, right to own, and hope that someday in the near future, I will be able to add the right to identify, and right to choose. Thank you for sharing your article. I had a lot to say. I am one of the lucky educated and articulate individuals among the poverty stricken, disabled citizens caught in the crossfire, so I have quite a bit more to say than others. In my dream world, I use that voice to rally the masses in the same situation and rally the capital. However, we are a community who has been fighting a loosing battle for a really long time now, and browbeaten is our middle names. I’m just grateful that so many companies have chosen to move to Texas. Now, I feel like I have a fighting chance to get a job right away and sustain myself in a humane manner. Again great info thank you for sharing! ~Cheers~
Sabrena
We left in October of 2020; not looking and no regrets; what was once the Golden State is now sh*t brown…..
I’m so sad to hear that so many companies are leaving California. It’s been such a great place to live and work for so many years. I hope they all find new homes soon.
I’m so sad to hear that so many companies are leaving California. It’s been such a great place to live and work for so many years. I hope they all find new homes soon.
In the immortal words of Davy Crockett-
“You can all go to Hell; I’m going to Texas!”