Wealthy residents are fleeing LA, San Francisco and Orange County to ... trends now

Affordable real estate in Cali city hotspots is hard to come by - so much so that wealthy citizens are increasingly fleeing inland to a city dubbed 'the armpit' of the golden state.  

Enter Bakersfield - a locale that's a far cry from its Bay Area brethren - and better known for its heat and pollution. 

It's comprised mostly of cows and open farmland - and now, real estate data shows, thousands of coastal Californians. 

Local influencers have also hopped on the trend, though some aren't as thrilled about the new phenomenon, fearing gentrification could push up house prices. 

But as costly cities like LA and San Francisco are ravaged by crime, homelessness and drug crises, there is no stopping the influx of newcomers looking to escape the 'rat race'.  

Newcomer Alvarado Vazquez, a SoCal mortgage analyst, left LA satellite Tustin for the town this past year and says he and his wife have yet to look back, citing the small city's 'slower pace of life'. 

'People need to understand that living in Orange County is just a rat race,' he told SFGate of his past life in the notoriously expensive LA metro area, where his mortgage was $2,600 more than it is now.

 'It's paycheck by paycheck.'  

He said he with wife Elizabeth Vasquez plan on using the extra cash to travel, after selling their four-bed, 1,8000 square foot for $1.1million.

They now own a home with a pool purchased for the fraction of the cost - $459,000 to be exact, he said.

'It may be hotter,' he said of the city's infamous heat, 'but now, I've got a swimming pool.'

Statistics and posts on social media show how the couple are not alone, following a trend of fed-up Californians fleeing the coast to smaller, cheaper towns following the pandemic.

Often emboldened by jobs that allow for remote work, many have moved to the Central Valley - the broad, elongated expanse of land that dominates the interior of the state.

Within that valley sits cities like Stockton and Fresno, both of which are urban and known for abnormally high crime rates.

However, more eagle-eyed homebuyers may also stumble upon relatively rural Bakersfield, which, with its rolling countryside and mountains, boasts a decidedly different feel.

Located only a two hours' drive from LA, some have dubbed it the 'Texas of California.'

It sports several oil refineries and no shortage of cattle, as well as a massive Amazon fulfillment center that opened just months after the first Covid case was detected in the US.

There, workers, by and large, are paid $15-an-hour - compensation that would not get one far in the competitive housing markets seen in California's coastal cities.

But in Bakersfield, rents for a one bed could be as low as $800 and as a result it recently ranked among the places with 100 percent-plus increases in the number of people looking to move there following the pandemic.

The top origins of homebuyers moving into the agricultural and energy hotspot from out of town were Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area and Tampa, Florida, a 2021 report by Redfin.com found.

More recent data recorded from January to March of 2024, meanwhile, showed how thousands of LA residents searched for homes in Bakersfield during those months - drawing more interest than any other city on the platform.

In second place was none other than San Francisco, which typically ranks among the top three most expensive cities in the country, several studies have shown.

Like Alvarado - and others who spoke to The New York Times about the relatively new phenomenon - they've been captivated not only by the city's abundance of parks and trails, but its cost of living.

'It's like the American dream,' said Edlin Gonzales, then 33, after leaving her studio apartment near LA's bustling Miracle Mile in January 2021. She has lived in Bakersfield - in a spacious three-bedroom - ever since, she told the paper.

'My parents were immigrants, so that's the idea of success,' she said of her now home that came complete with hardwood floors, a yard, and a pool - all for just $342,000.

Remembering how a friend from New York was impressed during a visit, Gonzales recalled: 'She was like, "I love this. I want to move to a place like this.'" 

Like other transplants, Gonzales works remotely - as was the case with Autumn Paine, a 45-year-old lawyer who gave up on her old home the Bay Area in 2020. 

She told the paper how she and her husband, fed up with the hustle and bustle, wanted a home in place where they could forgo their cars and the infamous Bay Area traffic

During a visit to Kern County in the spring of 2020, they stumbled upon Bakersfield, and were almost-immediately sold.

'We were like, 'Should we do this?' she recalled of the conservative California hotspot also known for its walkability, at a bar steps away from her front door.

'Like, who moves to Bakersfield?'

After the move Paine could walk a block to work everyday to an office near the city's courthouse, in a neighborhood rife with museums and restaurants.

Gonzales, meanwhile, said she also enjoys being closer to her parents, who live in fellow farm town Delano, while also being just 100 miles from her old home along the coast.

Her Doberman pinscher, she added, appreciates the big yard, while she's just thankful the city's cost of living has

read more from dailymail.....