By james art 
Last year, California had the nation’s largest gap between arrivals and departures — though it also enjoyed the largest improvement in what demographers call “net migration” among the states.
A review of my trusty spreadsheet of new state-to-state migration data from the Census Bureau shows that the net outflow of 268,052 was California’s fourth largest since 2004. Last year, No. 2 was New York, with an emigration of 179,709.
California rivals topped the positive side of this people movement scorecard. Texas had 133,372 more people moving in than leaving, followed by Florida with a net inflow of 126,008.
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Too many people look at California’s significant “net” outflow and immediately assume that the state has trouble retaining its residents. Remember that this demographic criterion is the “net” result of two variables.
Just eyeball math 2023. Is 690,127 Californians who turned out too high? Or is 422,075 Americans moved here too low?
If we can somehow get around what caused this debate, there may be a glimmer of hope for California—the gap between departures and arrivals is narrowing.
The Golden State’s net outflow last year was 73,814 fewer than in 2022. No state has improved more. No. 2 is New York, down 65,428.
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And who is at the other end of the spectrum of this migration metric?
Florida with net inflows down 123,056 over the year, the largest reversal in the nation. No. 2 was Connecticut, 52,976 worse. Next came Texas, which fell by 40,889.
Jonathan Lansner is a business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at [email protected]