{"id":244733,"date":"2026-03-31T08:23:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/244733\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T08:23:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:23:12","slug":"woman-leaves-la-for-north-carolina-driven-out-by-high-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/244733\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman leaves LA for North Carolina, driven out by high costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

A woman who once swore by the California dream says wildfires, sky-high costs \u2014 and a crackdown on her Airbnb lifeline \u2014 pushed her to pack up and flee<\/a> Los Angeles for good.<\/p>\n

Natasha Thomlinson-Clark is one of thousands of Angelinos who have left the state in recent months, driven out by a variety of factors, according to newly released Census data<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The urge to relocate crept in slowly, starting when local ordinances and a risk of fines, forced her to stop relying on a short-term rental<\/a> to supplement her income.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had an Airbnb in West Hollywood that was basically how I survived before,\u201d said Thomlinson-Clark. \u201cThey shut down my Airbnb\u2026[it was] very hard for me financially.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then came the final straw when the Palisades Fire forced her<\/a> and her husband Luke to reconsider their living situation.<\/p>\n

Natasha Thomlinson-Clark and her husband Luke decided to leave LA County after the Palisdes Fire. Natasha Thomlinson-Clark<\/p>\n

Thomlinson-Clark ditched LA for Charlotte, North Carolina. Natasha Thomlinson-Clark<\/p>\n

\u201cThen the fires really \u2014 that kinda freaked us out a lot,\u201d she said. \u201cWe were paying all this money \u2026 couldn\u2019t get house insurance. We were basically sitting ducks with no housing insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018what are we doing?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Within months, Thomlinson-Clark ditched LA for Charlotte, North Carolina \u2014 a move she admits was \u201ca bit of a knee-jerk reaction,\u201d but one that quickly paid off.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came straight to Charlotte \u2026 it was cheaper, it made financial sense to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple snapped up a sprawling 2,800-square-foot home for $660,000 in May 2025 \u2014 a price that would barely land a modest property<\/a> in Southern California.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you can buy here is ridiculous compared to California,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The couple bought a 2,800-square-foot home for $660,000 in May 2025. Natasha Thomlinson-Clark<\/p>\n

Los Angeles County lost roughly 54,000 residents, the largest population drop in the nation. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The numbers back her up.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles County lost roughly 54,000 residents between July 2024 and July 2025, the largest population drop in the nation, according to newly released US Census Bureau data<\/a>. Once topping 10 million residents, the county has now slipped to under 9.7 million \u2014 a steady decline with no clear end in sight.<\/p>\n

Experts say affordability is the driving force.<\/p>\n

Realtor.com senior economist Joel Berner noted that LA\u2019s housing affordability score sits at just 0.41, far below the national average of 0.77. Median rent in the county has surged to $2,709 \u2014 compared to $1,667 nationwide \u2014 leaving many residents priced out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncomes in LA have simply not kept pace with housing costs,\u201d Berner said, adding that many are \u201csqueezed to the point where they have to choose to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s exactly what Thomlinson-Clark did \u2014 even if it wasn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had never thought about leaving LA. If I\u2019m honest, the fires were a big driving force,\u201d she said. \u201cI worked really hard to get to California \u2014 specifically, I picked California.\u201d<\/p>\n

She insists the move wasn\u2019t political, still, the financial upside has been hard to ignore. After buying her first home ten months ago, she told The Post, she bought a second one last Friday. <\/p>\n

\u201cMoney goes much farther here,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a trend LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger is watching closely. <\/p>\n

\u201cLos Angeles County\u2019s population decline is a clear signal that we must stay focused on the fundamentals \u2014 public safety and affordability,\u201d Barger said in a statement to The Post. \u201cWhen people feel safe and can afford to live here, they stay and invest in their communities. If we lose sight of that balance, we risk losing the very workforce and families that make our region strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, Thomlinson-Clark hasn\u2019t completely shut the door on the Golden State.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinancially it\u2019s better, but you do give up a lot,\u201d she admitted. \u201cCalifornia \u2014 it\u2019s the sunshine tax you pay. There\u2019s a lot to do in California.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReally tough to leave,\u201d she added. \u201cI can\u2019t say I\u2019ll be here forever.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman who once swore by the California dream says wildfires, sky-high costs \u2014 and a crackdown on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,23600,47,4182,34500,6138,3586],"class_list":["post-244733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-census","tag-los-angeles","tag-metro","tag-moving","tag-north-carolina","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}