The move mirrors a broader corporate shift eastward as high costs and heavy regulation push more California executives to seek friendlier business climates.
As In-N-Out Burger prepares to open restaurants and a corporate office in Tennessee, owner and CEO Lynsi Snyder says she and her family will relocate from California.
In a message posted on social media on July 22, Snyder said California is a “tough” place to live and do business in, though she clarified that the company’s corporate headquarters would not be moving out of the state, nor would any In-N-Out restaurants be shut down.
“In addition to our Baldwin Park office, we’re expanding with an eastern territory office in Tennessee to support our growth,” she said. “We’re not leaving California or leaving our roots behind. Each one of our locations is here to stay.”
Snyder’s move to Tennessee makes her the latest business leader to exit California, a state prized for its climate but burdened by steep taxes, heavy regulation, and high living costs. Other prominent businesspeople to leave the state include Elon Musk, who not only made Texas his new home but also moved Tesla’s headquarters from Palo Alto to Austin. Musk feuded with local authorities in California in 2020 over pandemic shutdown orders and also complained that high housing costs were hampering Tesla’s ability to expand in the Bay Area around San Francisco.
Other companies besides Tesla that have left California include Charles Schwab and Chevron, both citing high taxes, regulatory hurdles, and steep operating costs. But it’s not just businesses and corporate leaders—ordinary Californians are also leaving the state in growing numbers. According to Chapman University economics professor James Doti, who has studied migration trends in California, the exodus started around 15 years ago.
“It has been gradually increasing,” Doti told The Epoch Times in 2023.
He said at the time that many Californians were following their employers out of the state, driven by high taxes, strict environmental rules, and an unfriendly business climate.
“Job formation outside of the state is greater,” he said. “[People are] going to areas where they could get a higher-paying job, and that’s happening because businesses are leaving the state—and that’s a negative.”
In her departure message, Snyder focused on California’s high cost of living—especially its soaring house prices. She said that In-N-Out’s expansion into Tennessee provides employees “wonderful opportunities to buy a home and raise a family.”
By Tom Ozimek
