California Residents Fleeing to Mexico for More Affordable Lifestyle Amid Housing Prices, Rising Inflation
California residents are driving toward Mexico to search for a more affordable life as housing prices and inflation rates continue to rise.
Darrell Graham of Baja123 Real Estate Group told Breitbart News that the cost of taxes, crime rates, politics, and all the things that people are unhappy about California are coming down to Mexico.
Around 200,000 people commute between California and Mexico every day, as many of them work in California and "live just below the border in Baja California" because of its nearness.
The phenomenon was described as the "California exodus."
Toni Smith, a coach and personal trainer at Southwestern Community College, said that a lot of people commuting actually live in Mexico and work in the states, adding that it is thousands of people crossing daily.
Smith works in San Diego and lives in Tijuana.
Remote work has also given California residents the opportunity to seek out cheaper places to live in Mexico while having the financial benefits of working in the U.S.
California Residents Moving to Mexico
Content creator Travis Grossi moved to Mexico in 2020. He had paid $1,600 a month for a one-bedroom apartment in Hollywood.
Upon moving to Mexico, his rent became $850 per month for two bedrooms, three bathrooms, a shared pool, and 24-hours day security, according to a Daily Mail report.
Grossi said that they were able to cut their budget in half, which allowed them to focus on their careers and the things they wanted to do artistically without working every day, every week "just to meet the bare minimum."
Monthly rent in Mexico can reach an average of as little as $430 per month, while rents can average as high as $1,500 north of the border in San Diego.
In 2021, California's population declined for the second consecutive year, according to state officials in May. It was the result of a slowdown in births, which was further driven by an increase in deaths and people leaving the state. Around 280,000 more people left California for other states than moved there in 2021.
The trend has started the process of gentrification that is pricing out local Mexican citizens who are not paid in U.S. dollars.
Ariel Ruiz Soto, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy institute, said that certain neighborhoods are now becoming too expensive for Mexican citizens to live in.
Cost of Living in California
CNBC News noted that California still ranks high as one of the country's most expensive states to live in, with the median asking price for a home being about $797,470.
Only 25 percent of the state's households could afford it in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Mexico is considered 55.4 percent cheaper than California. Living in Mexico would mean you pay 54 percent less for restaurants, pay 50.4 percent less for groceries, and pay 45.4 percent less for transportation, according to My Life Elsewhere.
Those who live in Mexico would also pay 74.6 percent less for housing as compared to those who live in California.
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Mary Webber
WATCH: Why Californians Are Fleeing To Mexico - from CNBC