Moving to California

The inbound flows come mostly from large states with their own tech and media economies rather than from cheaper neighbors: Texas sent about 39,000 people in 2023, New York about 35,000, Washington about 32,000, then Nevada and Oregon at about 22,000 each, Illinois at about 22,000, and Arizona at about 21,000.

MERIC ranks California behind only Massachusetts and Hawaii, with a housing component of 192.1 and utilities at 131.5 against a national average of 100.

• The income tax is graduated from 1 percent up to 13.3 percent, and the Tax Foundation notes an additional payroll tax on wage income that brings the all-in top rate to 14.6 percent, the highest combined rate in the country.
• Property tax runs the other direction: the effective rate on owner-occupied housing is 0.70 percent, below the national norm.

Get a California driver license within 10 days

You can drive on an out-of-state license for no more than 10 days after you establish residence here. Once you are a resident, you cannot drive for work at all until DMV issues your California license. Plan the DMV visit for your first week.

Expect a knowledge test at the counter

A valid license from another state does not transfer automatically. You complete the DL/ID application and visit a field office. There you give your Social Security number, prove your identity and residency, and pay a nonrefundable application fee. The fee stays valid for 12 months. You also get a thumbprint scan and photo, and pass a vision exam and the knowledge test. You get three attempts at each required knowledge test. After that, the application expires and you must reapply. Offices do not start a test within 30 minutes of closing.

Register the vehicle within 20 days

You have 20 days to apply. The clock starts when you accept a job here or establish residency, whichever comes first. Bring the last out-of-state title and registration certificate, a completed Application for Title or Registration (REG 343), and the out-of-state plates. You also need a Verification of Vehicle (REG 31) signed by an authorized verifier. Gasoline models from 1976 onward need a smog certificate from a California station. So do diesel models from 1998 onward under 14,001 pounds GVWR. If a document is missing, submit the application and fees on time anyway. The penalty is tied to the deadline, not to the missing document.

Raise your liability limits before you register

The state minimums are $30,000 for injury or death to one person, $60,000 for injury or death to more than one person, and $15,000 for property damage. Comprehensive and collision coverage do not count toward the requirement. If DMV never receives proof of insurance for the vehicle, it suspends the registration. The car then cannot legally be driven or parked on a public road until you submit proof.

Check whether you owe use tax on a recently bought vehicle

Use tax applies to a vehicle bought and first used outside the state and brought here within 12 months of purchase. The law presumes you bought it for use here. Any one of several conditions triggers this. Examples are registering the vehicle here in the first 12 months of ownership, or keeping it here for more than half of that period. You can rebut the presumption with documents such as out-of-state registration, insurance records, fuel and lodging receipts, and proof of where you first used it. The use tax rate matches the sales tax rate at the address where you register the vehicle.

File the homeowners exemption by February 15

If you buy a home and live in it, the state constitution takes $7,000 off its taxable value. File form BOE-266 once with the county assessor. The home must be your principal residence on the January 1 lien date. File by February 15 to get the full exemption for that year.