US EditionHigh Living Cost, Persistent Poverty Fuel California's Economic Divide
- The Milken Institute released a report in 2025 titled "A Hollywood Reset" highlighting that California's film and television production is declining due to high costs and outdated processes.
- The report attributes this decline to factors including Los Angeles's high permit fees, rising living expenses, a strong U.S. Dollar, and competing countries' nationalized healthcare systems.
- Additional context shows California's average home prices now exceed New York's, with Los Angeles permits costing $3,724, far above New York's $1,000 and even lower fees in other cities.
- The report recommends substantially raising California's film and television tax credit budget, as proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, and calls for streamlining both the permitting and incentive application procedures while increasing the base incentive rate to around 30 percent.
- Without reforms, the report warns of irreversible job and production losses amid California’s persistent poverty, where over seven million people lived below the poverty line in 2023 according to Census-based cost-of-living measures.
16 Articles
16 Articles
Hanford Sentinel
California’s high living costs and high poverty sharpen its economic divide
Dan Walters Commentary: High poverty rates underscore the fact that Californians’ costs for housing, utilities, fuel and other necessities of life are among the nation’s highest. In some high-cost counties, California’s housing department considers adults making more than $100,000 a…
Walters: California’s high living costs and poverty levels sharpen its divide
Forty years ago, I wrote a series of 14 articles for the Sacramento Bee describing major economic, social, cultural and political trends coursing through California as the 20th century was drawing to a close. One theme of the series, which later became a book, was the transformation of California from a state with high economic and social mobility to one of relatively rigid classes defined by ethnicity, education, incomes and wealth. I quoted tw…
High living cost, persistent poverty fuel California's economic divide
A homeless man sleeps in the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego. (File photo by Chris Stone/Times of San Diego) This column was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Forty years ago, I wrote a series of 14 articles for the Sacramento Bee describing major economic, social, cultural and political trends coursing through California as the 20th century was drawing to a close. One theme of the series, which later became a book,…
Dan Walters | The Stratification of California’s Economy
Forty years ago, I wrote a series of articles for the Sacramento Bee describing major economic, social, cultural and political trends coursing through California. One theme of the series, which later became a book, was the transformation of California from a state with high economic and social mobility to one of relatively rigid classes defined by ethnicity, education, incomes and wealth. I quoted researchers, Leon Bouvier and Philip Martin, who…
California’s High Living Costs and Rampant Poverty Sharpen Its Economic Divide
This commentary was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Forty years ago, I wrote a series of 14 articles for the Sacramento Bee describing major economic, social, cultural and political trends coursing through California as the 20th century was drawing to a close. By Dan Walters CalMatters Opinion One theme of the series, which later became a book, was the transformation of California from a state with high econom…
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