The Eagle Has Landed:
Why Californians are Dreaming of Leaving

EAGLE, Idaho — When Catharine Beverly-Bishop lost her home in the 2018 Woolsey Fire, she spent the night sleeping in her car, parked in a lot off the Pacific Coast Highway.

In the days that followed, she crammed what remained of her California life into a small La Quinta hotel room with her husband and three children.

“Everyone in that hotel had dogs, birds and cats and was displaced,” Beverly-Bishop said. “I don't think that I really knew my neighbors until this happened. It definitely gave me, for better or worse, a sense of community.”

In time, Beverly-Bishop realized that what she wanted was a simpler way of life. And she found it in a sleepy town on the outskirts of Boise, Idaho.

California has long been thought of as the land of dreams. But in recent decades, the state has experienced a steady outflow of residents, driven by soaring costs, wildfires and political polarization. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, the state has recorded net domestic outmigration every year since 2001.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the pace of this trend. Remote work made relocation easier, and by the time restrictions lifted, California had lost more than a half-million residents, according to CBS News.

Photo by Jessica Silva

What began as a trickle in the late 20th century has become something closer to an exodus in the 21st. In 2024 alone, California recorded the largest net loss of one-way U-Haul rentals in the nation, according to the moving company. While the California dream still exists, it lives elsewhere now.

Greetings from Idaho!

For many, that elsewhere is in Idaho.

Idaho has consistently ranked among the nation’s fastest-growing economies. As of June 2025, its unemployment rate hovers at just 3.6%, below the national average, and its gross domestic product (GDP) has more than doubled in the past five years. The crime rate remains low. And while prices have climbed, homeownership is relatively attainable — at least for those arriving from California.

In 2023, more than 17,000 Californians relocated to Idaho, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Many, like Beverly-Bishop, landed in Eagle, a once-sleepy suburb along the Boise River that has become a Californian heartland.

“It makes people like me, who came to Idaho, realize that all of my neighbors are from California,” Beverly-Bishop said. “I mean, my neighborhood where I live, they call it little California.”

But the tag of “Little California” speaks to something deeper. For many movers, Eagle is reminiscent of what they say California used
to be.

“[It] had a lot of the values that we believe Orange County had back when we were kids,” said Lindsay Vallez, who relocated from Southern California with her husband and two children. “A majority of the people here are like-minded. We left California for the same reasons. So even though it is a Little California, it is the California that we like.”

For others, like Jamee Windsor, a retired law enforcement officer from Northern California, Eagle offered a chance to finally exhale after years in a demanding profession.

“I don't have to constantly be on. That anxiety and stress gets to come down, and you get the joy of being outside and being around people and doing things that you wouldn't do back home,” she said. “To me, I don't think you can come out of law enforcement and stay in your own backyard and really enjoy your retirement.”

A public Facebook group titled “California to Idaho” was created in October 2020 to offer advice and support to those considering the move. As of 2025, the group has more than 13,600 members, reflecting the growing interest among California residents to build new lives in communities like Eagle.

But as more Californians arrive, the city is beginning to resemble the place many of them left behind.

“Idaho is definitely a lot like California without the ocean,” Beverly-Bishop said. “If they could put the Pacific Ocean in Boise, it would be perfect.”

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Eagle residents seen jumping off of a brige into the river.

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Chairs sit around a fireplace outside of the Eagle Historical Museum.

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The Orville Jackson House sits as one of the most historical landmarks in Eagle.

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Eagle City Hall stands in the heart of the town.

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Momentos from Eagle High School that can be found in the Eagle Historical Museum.

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A view of the river from a golfcourse in Eagle.

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Fountains decorate the town in Eagle and provide quiet spots for residents to enjoy a picnic at.

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The Idaho State Capitol, which stands proudly in Boise.

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The Meridian Idaho Temple — where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints practice their faith.

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The Ada County Courthouse located in Boise, Idaho.

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Photos by Mary Elisabeth

In June 2025, the median home price in Eagle reached $850,000, a 13% increase from the previous year, according to Redfin.

“When we first moved here, we were blown away by the prices,” Windsor said. “They didn't seem low, they seemed fair.” But recently, she’s noticed a shift.

“I saw a gentleman who was working three jobs, had children and could only afford a two-bedroom apartment,” Windsor said. “And I'm thinking… in this area, that doesn't make sense.”

Cost is relative, shaped by geography and income. For families arriving from California, Idaho offers the kind of space and stability that would be unthinkable back home: more square footage, fewer zeros on the price tag.

But for longtime residents who are tied to local wages, the surge of wealthier out-of-state buyers has made homeownership increasingly out of reach.

The local economy is booming, but not evenly.

“I feel bad for the people from Idaho,” Beverly-Bishop said. “They didn’t ask for this.”

She points to the growing list of demands to accommodate the increasing population.

“We don’t have the infrastructure,” she said. “The roads are always under construction to widen.”

Signs of cultural change aren’t far behind either. After two decades in business, The Stuffed Olive — a beloved neighborhood restaurant — announced its closure.

“This is a bittersweet moment for us,” the owners wrote in an Instagram post on June 7. “After pouring our hearts and souls into this beloved establishment for so many years, it's time for us to take a step back, to breathe, and to discover what's next.”

In its place, a piece of California is arriving. The Potholder Cafe, a breakfast chain founded in Long Beach, is opening its first out-of-state location in Eagle. The move mirrors the broader migration trend — not only of people, but of companies and culture.

But the growing Californication of Eagle has not been welcomed with open arms.

The arrival of new neighbors has triggered tensions between newcomers and old-timers, many of whom fear gentrification and displacement.

“I remember we were looking at a house, and we had our California plates on our car,” Beverly-Bishop said. “Somebody rode past and said, ‘Go back to California.’ And people were wearing — you don't see it as much now — hats that said IDAHO: NO VACANCY.”

The message was clear: this land is spoken for.

On the drive into Eagle, it isn’t uncommon to come bumper-to-bumper with stickers that read: CALIFORNIANS… THE NEWEST INVASIVE SPECIES.

Photo by Mary Elisabeth

Photo by Jessica Silva

Now, even some Californians share the sentiment.

“I'm from California. And I don't want the Californians coming,” Windsor said. “If you're moving here, don't move here to change it. You're moving here because you like how it is, and you like what you see.”

There is another concern in Eagle: that Californians might bring their left-leaning politics with them.

There is precedent for such fears. According to reports from NPR, migration of progressive voters from California to states like Colorado and Nevada has previously coincided with growing support for Democratic candidates.

But the shifting demographics of Idaho tell a more nuanced story.

While California is a reliably Democratic state in national elections, there is a sizable Republican population that does not represent the broader electorate. According to Politico, more than six million Californians voted for Donald Trump in 2024 — a voting bloc roughly three times the total population of Idaho.

Many of those conservative voters fled not just unaffordability, but also the state’s progressive leanings.

“The folks that are gravitating this way, it's about God, country and family,” Beverly-Bishop said.

So, rather than liberalizing Idaho’s political landscape, many appear to be deepening its conservative character. In Ada County, home to Eagle, 53.8% of voters supported Trump in 2024. Eagle itself — with a population of 33,285 — is almost 88% white and remains deeply aligned with conservative values, according to World Population Review.

“California's got so many rules that you can't even hurt yourself if you try,” said Rod Folendorf, who grew up in Fresno County and moved to Eagle for the politics. “If you leave the state, you’ve got to find a red state.”

To him, Idaho isn’t new. It’s familiar. “I was born in the 50s, and Idaho reminds me of California in the 60s before it went crazy,” Folendorf said.

Even local politics now reflect the migration patterns. Despite being a small, conservative boomtown, Eagle experienced a peculiar clash in the last mayoral election: both candidates were former California residents.

Brad Pike, the incumbent, sees that as confirmation. “A lot of people that come from California know what we came from,” he said. “We don't want to see that happen here. The more conservative values would be even deeper rooted from people transferring here than people that have been here their whole lives and didn't know they lived in that bubble.”

But as Eagle swells with its Californication, some are beginning to wonder if, by some twisted turn of fate, they’ve helped recreate the very place they once fled.

“Now you talk to people that moved here and they’re like, ‘Oh, this is too big. Now, it’s too big,’” Beverly-Bishop said. “Yeah. What’s the next place?”

Even some of the most enthusiastic transplants are beginning to feel a sense of déjà vu.

“I think that people come here because it reminds them of their childhood,” Mayor Pike said. “They're wanting their kids to experience something that they experienced in their childhood, established in a community that they can help grow.”

Ironically, for Beverly-Bishop’s son, Henry, that childhood was in California — until the Woolsey Fire took it away.

Now, as he prepares for college applications, he’s thinking of going back.

“I'm willing to try just to get back in the swing of things and how they were in California,” he said. “So yeah, I definitely think I’ll be applying to schools in California.”

The migration to Eagle is not an isolated trend. Across the country, similar communities are dotting the landscape.

From Texas to Florida, pockets of Californians have formed neighborhoods that resemble the state they left behind. “It's a little bit more clean and safe here,” said Evan Reid, who moved to Sarasota, Florida. “It's got nicer neighborhoods. Some people kind of call it the California of Florida.”

If California once stood for the dream of living, then this outward migration now presents something else entirely: the dream of leaving.

In that sense, Eagle isn’t the exception. It’s the beginning.

“I think history will reveal that there was probably more of this going on than just here,” Beverly-Bishop said. “But this one seems to be the epicenter.”