Recent Study Shows Tennessee as Popular Destination for Businesses Leaving California
New research from The Hoover Institution at Stanford University shows that Tennessee is the second most popular destination for companies fleeing California. With the top destination being Texas, Arizona and Nevada followed the Volunteer state in third and fourth place, respectively.
According to results from the study, there were 25 companies with California headquarters that relocated to Tennessee, and 114 going to the Lone Star State from January 1, 2018, through June 30, 2021.
“Those headquarters, that’s the real trophy at the end of the day,” Rolfe said. “That’s the team that makes all of the decisions, that’s the team that invests in the community locally and makes a location for capital expenditure.”
Those communities now include Franklin, Brentwood, Dayton, La Vergne, and Columbia with 15 of the 25 headquarters choosing to move to Music City.
“The reason you want to see those companies considering Middle Tennessee is that they’re going to provide expanded opportunity for the people that are here,” Schulz said.
“The whole secret here is when you have growing jobs, you have expanding opportunity, expanding options, you have growth in cultural institutions and the city gets stronger.”
Kaiser Aluminum, Oracle, and Mitsubishi, some of the most recent and most popular additions, are soon-to-be additions to our state.
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“Life has gotten hard for people out in California and they like the culture and lifestyle in Middle Tennessee and they like the business environment,” said Ralph Schulz, CEO of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.
Within the last couple of years, California has experienced a major loss of company headquarters to other states, including ours. Schulz says he’s definitely seen an uptick in recent years.
“It’s become the least business-friendly state, not only in the U.S. but across the globe,” said Bob Rolfe, Department of Economic and Community Development.
Along with corporations, other prominent figures have also evacuated California including Conservative talk show host Ben Shapiro who left Los Angeles for Nashville in 2020.
Data shows that California’s overall population is decreasing in total as well. California has gained a population every year since 1900 but in 2020, the state lost over 70,000 people.
Many blamed the high taxes and restrictive policies on business, while others more recently have blamed the Democratic Governor’s COVID pandemic response.
