A seismic shift is taking place in corporate America as even more companies announce plans to relocate from blue states to more business-friendly jurisdictions like Texas.

Elon Musk recently announced he would be moving the headquarters of two of his companies, X and SpaceX, from California to Texas. The “final straw,” according to Musk, was a new California law that blocks schools from notifying families if students change their gender identity.

But the underlying reasons for this ongoing migration go far deeper than one bad law.

Simply put, high living costs and operating costs in select metro areas are prompting companies to seek greener pastures elsewhere. A staggering 465 headquarters have moved since 2018, with Texas welcoming the most at 209 relocations, according to commercial real estate firm CBRE (which itself moved from Los Angeles to Dallas in 2020).

By contrast, 79 companies left California’s Bay Area over the same period, 50 departed f