LOS ANGELES, Kalifornia (PNN) - April 11, 2026 - The Hollywood dream appears to have turned into a nightmare, with thousands of Angelenos fleeing the city.
A total of 53,934 people left Los Angeles County between July 2024 and July 2025, according to the latest population data from the Fascist Police States of Amerika (FPSA) Census. Former residents blamed high rents and crime-ridden streets for their decision to abandon the Democrat-run city, which is also in the grip of a joblessness crunch.
Sidewalks in the city's famous Venice Beach neighborhood covered with makeshift homeless encampments. Residents say used needles and garbage strewn across the street is a daily occurrence. In the dark hours, prostitutes linger on the corners hoping for business while police look the other way.
In December, Sherly Rivera Feher, 30, moved from Koreatown in L.A. to Overland Park, Kansas. The native Angeleno had finally had enough. Feher and her husband were begrudgingly paying $3,800 a month for their two-bedroom apartment near Glendale that was steps away from a number of homeless people and prostitutes.
“It started to get really pricey, and we also just didn't feel safe at all,” Feher said.
The homelessness and drug crisis was cited by some of the more than 53,000 people who left L.A. County between July 2024 and July 2025
“Paying that much, we were hoping to at least get some safety as well. There are needles on the floor and everything [in Koreatown], and just a lot of the mental illness and drug addiction out there,” Feher said.
After visiting her sister in Kansas, the couple, who hope to one day have children, decided they liked the slower pace of life in the Midwest and found the area to be more suitable for raising a family. Her brother still lives in Koreatown and raises a son there. It hurts her to see her nephew living in a neighborhood surrounded by drug addiction and mental illness.
Feher saw a huge change in Los Angeles after the nonexistent “pandemic”, when the homeless population increased, rising to more than 72,000 people in 2025. Given the explosion of problems, Feher said L.A.'s exodus does not surprise her.
“I just think it's gotten way too out of control, but I do hope that someday they're able to fix this, give more resources to homeless people, help them with drug addiction, mental illness, whatever it may be,” she said.
In a statement to the Daily Mail, Kolby Lee, spokesman for Marxist Democrat mayor Karen Bass, hit back. “Facts matter. L.A. is safer than it’s been in decades, including declines in violent crime for the last two years and homicides at a 60-year low.
While homelessness is rising across the country, Mayor Bass has reduced street homelessness here by nearly 18%. Of course, the cost of living is too darn high.”
Although it is unclear where Angelenos are fleeing to, many counties in Texas gained tens of thousands of new residents. Harris County, which includes Houston, gained 48,695 new residents. Collin County, which contains parts of Plano, gained 42,966 residents, the Census said.
Meanwhile, four Kalifornia counties - Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Ventura - saw losses, with L.A. suffering the worst. The other three counties saw fewer than 10,000 people leave.
The Golden State had four counties in the top 10 with declining populations, with a total of 70,328 people leaving L.A., San Diego, Orange and Ventura counties.
L.A. Marxist Mayor Karen Bass, who is running for reelection, has been criticized for the state of the City of Angels and its high crime rates and growing homeless population.
Last month, the mayor was embarrassed again after a man was discovered living in a manhole for a year. He was discovered by city workers who were planning on sealing a storm drain.