Celebrities flee Los Angeles as wealthy residents depart

Celebrities’ reasons – California’s out-migration is accelerating, and a growing circle of celebrities says Los Angeles no longer fits—whether the trigger is taxes, wildfire risk, housing costs, privacy, or business regulations. New data show California led the U.S. in people leavin

For years, Los Angeles has sold a certain promise: the lights, the jobs, the belief that staying put means opportunity. But in the past several years, the people leaving have started looking less like exceptions and more like a pattern.

California recorded an estimated 229,077 people moving out to other states from July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2025, according to the latest Census data. New York was second with 137,586 people leaving.

The movement is not new. Between 2022 and 2023, nearly 700,000 people chose to leave California—one reason the current wave is being interpreted less as a trend and more as a shift in where Americans decide their money, their safety, and their families belong.

For some, the pressure comes from escalating costs and environmental threat. The increased threat of wildfires, paired with a growing affordability crisis, is pushing residents to other parts of the country. And recently. even some of the richest people in the world reportedly decided they wanted out after a proposed tax caused several prominent billionaires to abandon the state.

Celebrities are part of that story too. Some keep their reasons private. Others speak plainly about what they felt Los Angeles was doing to their families or their peace of mind—and where they wanted life to look different.

Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake left Los Angeles to shield their kids from the glare of the paparazzi. Biel said that since 2018, she, Timberlake, and their two kids have lived predominantly at their properties in Tennessee and Montana. “You get hammered on the East Coast. You kind of get hammered on the West Coast. That’s why we don’t really live there anymore. ” Biel said in a May 2024 episode of SiriusXM’s “Let’s Talk Off Camera With Kelly Ripa. ” referring to her former home of Los Angeles. “We’re just trying to create some normalcy for these kids.”.

For others, the pull is quieter living far from studio lots. Ty Burrell moved to Utah to enjoy the outdoors. After “Modern Family” wrapped in 2020, Burrell and his wife, along with their two daughters, moved to Salt Lake City. In a statement to People in 2025. Burrell said. “We moved here right after [Modern Family] ended. and I don’t have any regrets. It’s been lovely and a great place to raise the kids.” Burrell said his wife. Holly. is a Utah native and that though he was raised in Oregon. he didn’t consider himself an outdoorsman until moving to Utah. “So at first. when we moved here. it almost felt like cosplay. like we were pretending to be people who were outdoorsy. and now we really truly love it. ” he said.

Financial pressure and government structure also show up again and again in how public figures describe the decision.

Dean Cain said he left Los Angeles for Las Vegas because of what he called “incredible taxation” and “horrible regulations for business” in California. Cain, known for playing Clark Kent/Superman in “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” split for Vegas in 2023. He told Fox News Digital in 2023: “It’s the most ridiculous large government. incredible taxation. horrible regulations for business.” He added. “Very anti-business.” Cain said California’s personal income tax felt especially high. “I moved to Las Vegas. I live in Nevada now,” he added. “I have 10 times as nice a house. I’m not kidding. Ten times as nice a house as I had in Malibu. The house is absolutely stunningly built. Gorgeous, beautiful. Everything is brand new.”.

The story of taxes also lands in the business side of the celebrity migration.

Gus Lira, a managing partner at a private jet charter company, had a condo in Malibu overlooking the ocean. He said California taxes were wearing him down and that he moved to Nevada. “For me. really the main reason. and for many of the people that I know. is just taxes. ” Lira told Business Insider in January. “You can’t get ahead when you get $100 and they take $60.”.

Even among the very famous, some moves come with a blunt sense of escape from public attention.

George and Amal Clooney left Los Angeles so their kids could “get a fair shake at life.” The couple have since become French citizens. The Clooneys have lived the quieter life in Italy and France for years. but they always had a home in Los Angeles—an English-style estate George bought from Stevie Nicks back in 1995. They finally sold that house in 2024 and now spend most of their time at their farmhouse in France

with their twins. Ella and Alexander. George told Esquire in 2025 why they left: “I was worried about raising our kids in L.A. in the culture of Hollywood. ” he said. “I felt like they were never going to get a fair shake at life.” He added. “I don’t want them to be walking around worried about paparazzi. ” and “I don’t want them being compared to somebody else’s famous kids.” In late December 2025.

George and Amal became French citizens.

The migration is not always permanent, but for several celebrities it is practical—rooted in family logistics, safety, or a desire to live where life feels less intense.

Matthew McConaughey left Los Angeles for a family situation in 2012, but later decided to stay. He and his wife, Camila Alves, eventually settled in Texas. They bought a 10. 800-square-foot mansion and. according to a profile in Southern Living. it was initially because of a “family crisis. ” when McConaughey needed to help his mother and two brothers. That led the couple to decide to stay put to raise their three children there. “Ritual came back,” McConaughey said of being back in Texas. “Whether that was Sunday church. sports. dinner together as a family every night. or staying up after that telling stories in the kitchen. sitting at the island pouring drinks and nibbling while retelling them all in different ways than we told them before.”.

Amanda Seyfried ditched the Hollywood scene, moving to a farm in upstate New York. Seyfried spends most of her time on a farm in the Catskills. a mountain range north of New York City. purchased in 2014. Architectural Digest reported in 2023. “It’s insane how much I can feel so accomplished and successful here without having to be in a successful movie. ” she told The New York Times in 2020.

Kelly Clarkson didn’t just move from Los Angeles to New York—she took her daytime talk show with her. After finalizing her divorce from ex-husband Brandon Blackstock in 2022, she didn’t just take her kids east. She also brought “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” which started taping in New York in season 5. “I was very depressed for the last three years — and maybe a little before that, if I’m being honest. I think I really needed the change,” the Grammy winner told People. “I needed it for me and my family as well. My kids are thriving here. We’re just doing so much better, and we needed a fresh start.”.

Some departures come with timing that reads like a turning point in life—especially around the pandemic and the years that followed.

Walton Goggins moved to New York after the pandemic. He and his wife. Nadia Conners. moved to New York’s Hudson Valley during the pandemic in 2021. but he told Architectural Digest in February the move was less about California and more about New York. “We weren’t running away from Los Angeles,” he said. “We were running toward something.” He added. “The pandemic opened windows of self-perception and possibility. ” calling it “an opportunity to do something different. not to start over from scratch but to change. to evolve.”.

Josh Hartnett has been living in the English countryside since the pandemic. He left Hollywood after dealing with a stalker. Hartnett and his wife, British actor Tamsin Egerton, have lived in Hampshire since COVID hit, bringing up their four kids. He is living in the UK on a marriage visa. so he can only leave the country for work for around 180 days a year. Hartnett told The Guardian that he loves village country life

where “nobody cares” who you are. “This is all brand new to me,” he said. “I never would have expected it. And time passes quickly. With four children, you have so much to do. In a way, less is happening. But more of the important stuff is happening.” He also described being safer outside Hollywood. He told The Guardian that when he lived in Los Angeles. he had experiences with stalkers: “People showed up at

my house. People that were stalking me,” he said. He recalled: “A guy showed up at one of my premieres with a gun, claiming to be my father. He ended up in prison. There were lots of things. It was a weird time. And I wasn’t going to be grist for the mill.”.

For other celebrities, wildfires are not just background—they are the moment they decided they were done.

Aaron Paul left California—and the US as a whole—for Paris. He told the Daily Mail in November 2025 that the California wildfires were the impetus for leaving California. but he was done with Los Angeles in general. “When the fires happened in LA. we just knew that we were done with LA. so we sold our house in LA and moved to Paris. ” Paul said. Paul put his home in Los Angeles’s Los Feliz neighborhood on the market in July 2025 for nearly $10 million. and has since cut the price by almost $2 million.

At the business level, the private jet executive’s blunt math—“you can’t get ahead when you get $100 and they take $60”—sits alongside a broader consumer reality: more people, not just the famous, are reaching the conclusion that their money stretches further elsewhere.

Several former California residents told Business Insider that their reasons for leaving included high taxes. expensive home prices. and challenging social and political conditions. Some celebrities remained tight-lipped when sharing details of their moves, simply saying they’re looking for a fresh start. Other high-profile actors admitted that the fast-paced, stressful scene in Hollywood can be another motivation.

Los Angeles, in particular, is experiencing an exodus of wealthier people in search of places where their money goes further.

That broader economic pressure is the thread connecting the human reasons—privacy, safety, family, and stress—that celebrities describe in their own words.

Business Insider compiled a list of 28 celebrities—some in celebrity couples—who left California for greener pastures, presented in alphabetical order by last name. The report says it tried to include both where they moved to and why they left Los Angeles.

Los Angeles exodus California migration Census data celebrity moves taxes housing affordability wildfires paparazzi Nevada New York immigration citizenship