New York lost more residents from July 2022 to July 2023 than California, almost 102,000 compared to 75,423, according to the Census Bureau. But it's the Golden State that has written the how-not-to guide. It's the trend setter of blue state public policy. When a little more than a year ago the Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College surveyed Californians who had expressed an interest in moving, "many respondents from across the political spectrum described concerns about the cost of living and other aspects of the economy."