Californians Part of ‘Cal-Exit’ Say Why They Left

John Peterson and his wife stand next to a for-sale sign on their lawn in Garden Grove, Calif., on Feb. 7, 2021. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Mike Kimmel and his wife, native Californians, moved to Arizona last year. Kimmel speaks of his love for California—but in the past tense.

“We loved the area and state we were born in,” he told The Epoch Times via email. “The beauty and diversity of the state stayed constant across those years. But the taxes and government regulation became overly excessive and unfair. LA County became a huge, overcrowded, traffic- and crime-filled monstrosity.”