California appears to be a loser in the culture wars when it comes to interstate migration flows.

Folks who talk about leaving the Golden State – or actually depart – say they no longer feel comfortable living in a state that’s dominated by big-city progressive thinking.

So as a public service – and to show an economic lesson or two – this edition of my “Leaving California” columns will guide those people thinking about relocating to a place where the “culture” may be a better fit.

Now, nothing can be harder to quantify than a fuzzy concept encompassing somebody’s philosophies of life. So, I’m going to skip the emotions and instead use seven benchmarks to gauge the cultural divide among the states.

For departing Californians who don’t need any detailed analysis – my trusty spreadsheet says your No. 1 alternative is South Dakota. If that’s not to your liking, then head to North Dakota, Tennessee, Oklahoma or Idaho.

And to avoid a really bad fit, do not go to New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Illinois. (Note: I’m a native New Yorker!)

What’s a culture?

Think about the common criticisms of California, and then mull how other 49 states compare.

It’s not easy to quantify the schisms, but here’s what I learned …

Politics: Look, numerous folks who feel uncomfortable in California have conservative views. So, I looked at two indexes measuring strong right-leaning views from the Cook Report and the Center for Legislative Accountability.

The most conservative state, by this math, was Wyoming followed by Alabama, South Dakota, West Virginia and Idaho.

Least conservative? Massachusetts, Hawaii, Vermont, Maryland and Rhode Island.

California ranks fifth-least conservative if included in these rankings.

Freedom: Critics like to paint California as a “nanny state” for its perceived overregulation of life and commerce.

So, I eyeballed the latest “freedom” rankings from the Cato Institute to see where a government’s burden is least likely to be found in your life.

By this measure, the “free-est” state is New Hampshire, followed by Florida, Nevada, South Dakota and Tennessee.

Government is most in your life in New York, Hawaii, New Jersey, Maryland and Vermont. California would be third-worst if it was part of this scoring.

Taxes: A distrust of big government often spills over into arguments about state and local taxes.

According to rankings from the Tax Foundation, WalletHub and Moneygeek, taxpayers in Alaska get the best deal, followed by Wyoming, Tennessee, South Dakota and Florida.

Tax pain is highest in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Vermont and Illinois. And California would rank 35th, if included.

Religion: A lack of spirituality is another beef some folks have with California living.

And while there isn’t much current data on state levels of religiousness, rankings from Gallup, Pew Institute and ARDA from the past decade provide a picture of where church is a large slice of life.

No. 1 for religious intensity was Alabama, followed by Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee.

Relatively speaking, god isn’t a hot topic in Maine, Maine, Vermont, Alaska and Oregon. California would have been No. 38.

Friendliness: Some ex-Californains say they’re tired of the state’s harried, cranky residents. So, where are smiles the warmest outside of the Golden State?

It’s Tennessee, according to rankings of how people treat each other from Kindness.org, YouGov and EnjoyTravel. Next up were Nebraska, Texas, Wyoming and Louisiana.

The grumpiest folks live in Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Californians rank 40th least friendly.

Economic equality: Not only is California expensive, but there’s also plenty of financial pressure to keep up with the neighbors.

Places with smaller gaps between the size of paychecks can lower such anxieties. Census stats on income differences show Alaska has the least variances in household incomes followed by Iowa, North Dakota, Hawaii and New Hampshire.

The biggest gaps are in New York, Florida, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey. California would rank fourth-worst.

Small town vibe: Big cities seem to be out of favor these days, especially with folks on the way out of California.

Where is rural living big and growing?

Various Census stats measuring the city-or-not divide show Montana as the place with the most vibrant rural living. Then comes Vermont, North Dakota, Idaho and New Hampshire.

City life remains hot in Rhode Island, Florida, New York, Nevada and Massachusetts. California would rank No. 5 for urbanism.

Bottom line

It’s a divided nation, and the slippery culture concept is a major pivot point.

On this scorecard – which is, by no means, a definitive grading – California would rank third-worst when trying to define “culture” as viewed by many of the state’s critics. Only New York and Connecticut are less attractive, according to this math.

This poor perception of Golden State culture is one motivator to exit. Consider the overall rankings of 10 of the more popular destinations for ex-Californians.

Tennessee got the third-best for cultural grades, Oklahoma was No. 4, Idaho was No. 5. Georgia ranked 12th-best followed by North Carolina (14th,) Texas (15th), Utah, (16th), Florida (28th), Arizona (32nd) and Nevada (37th).

These 10 states got half of the 837,000 Californians who departed the state in 2021.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at [email protected]

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