With Wells Fargo expected to have its Texas 850,000 square foot campus complete sometime this year, it is expected by some that they may be the next Fortune 500 company to leave the golden state. In the last three years alone the following companies left California for greener pastures in states that have more favorable tax structures and fewer regulations. Some big names made the list including Chevron, Tesla, Oracle, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Pabst, Symantec and Charles Schwab. The regulatory climate and taxes were big reasons companies chose to make the leap east. Of all U.S. states, CEOs rated California’s tax and regulation policies the worst, including a total of 518 state agencies, boards and commissions. The vast majority of businesses leaving California went to Texas, Florida, and Ohio.
FreshRealm the national leader in fresh meal solutions, announced they will be shifting their California-based headquarters to Lancaster, Texas in March 2024.
Hodge, A logistics and materials handling business moved out of California to Iowa reported on November 3 2023.
Noble 33 a hospitality business specializing in fine dining moved to Florida on October 31 2023.
QuickFee, a software and online payment processing service moved to Texas on October 20, 2023.
Advantage Solutions a Fortune 500 company moved its headquarters to Missouri in October 2023.
Thermomix, an appliance manufacturer and distributor moved its operations to Texas in August 2023.
Unical Aviation a global aircraft parts and components supplier moved to Arizona in July 2023.
Ruiz Foods a large distributor of Mexican cuisine moved to Texas in May 2023.
Cacique Foods a producer of Mexican cuisine move to Texas in May 2023.
Inbenta an AI interactive software developer moved to Texas in March 2023.
Landsea Homes a builder and designer of master-planned communities and homes moved to Texas March 2023.
McAfee a software developer specializing in virus protection moved to Texas January 2023.
Boingo Wireless a connectivity provider and distributor of antenna systems moved to Texas in December 2022.
Lucas Oil Products a manufacturer and distributor of engine additives moved to Indiana in November 2022.
Home Franchise Concepts a home franchise distributor moved to Texas in October 2022.
Allspring Global Investments, a financial investment company moved to North Carolina in October 20 2022.
Obagi Cosmeceuticals a skin care products manufacturer and distributor left for Texas in September 2022.
Belong a property management company moved to Florida in September 2022.
Chevron sold its headquarters building in San Ramon to move to Houston Texas in June 2022.
HBCU Hub a mobile app developer connecting students to admission offices moved to Texas in April 2022.
The Boring Company, a tunneling boring company moved to Texas in April 18 2022.
Sendoso a leading sending platform moved to Arizona in April 2022.
Ovation Fertility a fertility clinic operating multiple IVF labs moved to Tennessee in February 2022.
Hyperion hydrogen based vehicle manufacturer moved to Ohio in February 2022.
Review Wave a mobile app developer for the health care industry moved to Texas in January 2022.
Nexen Tire, a tire manufacturer and distributor moved its corporate headquarters to Ohio in October 2021.
Hall Technologies, an audio visual tech company moved to Texas in October 2021.
Tesla built its new gigafactory in Texas October 2021.
First Foundation Bank a financial services company moved their corporate headquarters to Texas in September 2021.
Flexible Funding a boutique lender moved to Texas in August 2021.
HomeLight a real estate sales company moved to Arizona in August 2021.
NinjaOne a software development company moved to Texas in August 2021.
AECOM a diversified international company moved its global headquarters from Los Angeles, CA, to Dallas Texas in October 2021.
MD7 a digital consulting company moved to Texas in August 2021.
Kaiser Aluminum a manufacturing company moved to Tennessee in July 2021.
Smart Wires, Inc. an energy products manufacturer moved to North Carolina in July 2021.
Wiley X an optical products manufacturer moved to Texas in June 2021.
F45 a fitness training company moved to Texas in June 2021.
Edelbrock Group a performance engine parts manufacturer moved to Mississippi in June 2021.
Landing, a large apartment rental company moved to Alabama in June 2021.
Snowflake, a recruitment company moved to Montana in May 2021.
Wedgewood LLC, a property development company moved to Texas in May 2021.
GemCap a financier moved to Texas in May 2021.
Green Dot Corporation a fintech firm and biggest U.S. provider of prepaid debit cards moved its headquarters from Pasadena, California to Austin, Texas, in May 2021.
Education Media Foundation (EMF) a multimedia company moved to Tennessee in March 2021.
Viavi Solutions a global leader in communications test and measurement and optical technologies moved to Arizona in February 2021.
Align Technology a dental products manufacturer and provider moved its global headquarters to Arizona in January 2021.
Digital Realty a data center providing connectivity solutions moved to Texas in January 2021.
Lion Real Estate Group, a real estate company moved to Texas in January 2021.
OPSWAT a digital security firm moved to Florida in January 2021.
Charles Schwab an investment firm moved to Texas in January 2021.
Oracle moved its global headquarters from Silicon Valley to Texas in December 2020.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) moved to Texas in December 2020.
Pabst a beverage company moved its headquarters to Texas in October 2020.
NortonLifeLock (Symantec) a digital security company moved to Arizona in January 2020.
The report – “California’s Competitiveness: A Regional Approach” outlines steps California must take to maintain its advantage over other states in the coming years. Some of the report’s recommendations to create innovation and improve competitiveness for the state’s regions and, in turn, stem the outbound migration of businesses include:
- Develop an economic strategy which considers and supports regional differences.
- Develop partnerships between higher education and industry that promote occupational upskilling to satisfy the demand for talent and skills from the local industry clusters interconnected with the rest of the world.
- Define business attraction and retention strategies at the regional level that drive innovation in leading regional clusters and are supported by a statewide plan.
- Leverage the state’s regional assets to compete for workers and firms. California can do so more effectively by addressing the state’s high cost of living and ensuring community amenities are on par with those in other states.
- Build entrepreneurial infrastructure and support, which will attract new firms while lowering the barriers to entrepreneurship for its homegrown talent.
