Stay West, young man: Fewer moving out of California

As recently as 2005, for every two people who moved to California, three left the Golden State. The high cost of housing was no doubt part of the migration for two reasons: Many were folks cashing out of their homes and buying in less expensive locales; and others were renters who realized they'd never be able to buy here.

The official number, according to Relocation.com, is that 60.7% of all relocation activity in California was to head for the exits. And while Oregonians never quite sent out the welcome wagon for their southern neighbors, Oregon did ultimately benefit from an increased tax base and what I suspect was a lot of highway construction projects.

But all that is changing, albeit slowly. That outbound number has been slowly decreasing every year, from 58.6% in 2006 to 54.99% in 2009 year to date.

Is this because Californians can no longer sell their homes for the big-profits they could back in 2005? Or is it because they can't sell their homes at all anymore?

Relocation.com also looked at the data for all moves in the city of Los Angeles and found that the percentage of people moving within the city was 25.2% in 2008 and rose to 32.33% in 2009. Downsizing perhaps?