Example Image
Civitas Outlook
Topic
Pursuit of Happiness
Published on
Aug 25, 2025
Contributors
Joel Kotkin
Photo by Logan Bonjean on Unsplash.

The Next Californias

Contributors
Joel Kotkin
Joel Kotkin
Senior Research Fellow
Joel Kotkin
Summary
Colorado, Washington, and Oregon have adopted many of the policies contributing to the Golden State’s decline.
Summary
Colorado, Washington, and Oregon have adopted many of the policies contributing to the Golden State’s decline.
Listen to this article

Not long ago, Colorado, Washington, and Oregon were widely hailed as states with bright futures. For decades, they attracted scores of out-of-state migrants, turning Denver, Seattle, and Portland into celebrated urban hubs.

But that changed as these states began adopting the very policies—above all on energy, housing, and regulation—that many newcomers had fled from in California. Once politically purple, Colorado, Washington, and Oregon have turned solid blue, embracing the same agenda that even the New York Times concedes has turned “the California dream” into “a mirage.”

True, Colorado, Washington, and Oregon have yet to reach California’s levels of dysfunction. Yet each shows signs suggestive of the Golden State’s experience, including lower job growth, sluggish housing-construction rates, a deteriorating business climate, and surging domestic out-migration.

Continue reading at City Journal.

10:13
1x
10:13
More articles

The Logic of Pressing for Change in Cuba Now

Politics
Apr 8, 2026

James Q. Wilson and the Crisis of Our Time

Pursuit of Happiness
Apr 8, 2026
View all

Join the newsletter

Receive new publications, news, and updates from the Civitas Institute.

Sign up
More on

Pursuit of Happiness

The Rise of Latino America

In The Rise of Latino America, Hernandez & Kotkin argue that Latinos, who are projected to become America’s largest ethnic group, are a dynamic force shaping the nation’s demographic, economic, and cultural future. Far from being a marginalized group defined by oppression, Latinos are integral to America’s story. They drive economic growth, cultural evolution, and workforce vitality. Challenges, however, including poverty, educational disparities, and restrictive policies, threaten their upward mobility. Policymakers who wish to harness Latino potential to ensure national prosperity and resilience should adopt policies that prioritize affordability, safety, and economic opportunity over ideological constraints.

Joel Kotkin, Jennifer Hernandez, Wendell Cox, Marshall Toplansky, Erika Ozuna
Pursuit of Happiness
Nov 10, 2025
Revival: Americans Heading Back to the Hinterlands

Smaller communities throughout the country are poised to play an outsize role in forging our future.

Joel Kotkin, Wendell Cox
Pursuit of Happiness
Sep 19, 2025
How to Save Our Urban Centers

What will the future of American cities look like?

Joel Kotkin
Pursuit of Happiness
Jun 26, 2025
National Poll from Civitas Institute: Americans Concerned About AI, Economic Issues

The Civitas Institute Poll, conducted from March 11-20, 2025, asked 1,200 Americans an array of questions about how things are going in the country.

Daron Shaw
Pursuit of Happiness
Jun 11, 2025
Peter Robinson Unbridled - A Civitas Institute Podcast

Peter Robinson Unbridled

A new show and podcast bringing the energy of Austin to wide-ranging conversations on politics, economics, education, and culture.

View all
** items
Richard Epstein on Roman Law and Sociobiology

How and why Roman law worked, how it eventually fell apart, and sociobiology as a way to explain the foundations and limits of legal norms.

Richard Epstein
Pursuit of Happiness
Mar 1, 2026
Silicon Valley is pivoting away from Trump

As the dominant economic and social force of our time, a handful of Silicon Valley-based companies shape our politics more than we’d like to admit.

Joel Kotkin
Pursuit of Happiness
Feb 10, 2026
The Campus Civility Collapse

Pursuit of Happiness
Dec 17, 2025
Exodus: Affordability Crisis Sends Americans Packing From Big Cities

The first in a two-part series about the Great Dispersion of Americans across the country.

Joel Kotkin, Wendell Cox
Pursuit of Happiness
Sep 9, 2025

Robert George and Cornel West - Truth Matters, A Book Talk

Pursuit of Happiness
Sep 26, 2025
1:05

Arthur Brooks on the Secret to a Fulfilling Life

Pursuit of Happiness
Jul 7, 2025
1:05

Populism Unpacked: Voices from the Heartland

Pursuit of Happiness
Mar 4, 2025
1:05

Jeff Rosen on What “The Pursuit of Happiness” Meant to America's Founders

Pursuit of Happiness
Jan 26, 2025
1:05

Arthur C. Brooks on the Pursuit of Happiness in an Unhappy World

Pursuit of Happiness
May 8, 2024
1:05
No items found.
No items found.
James Q. Wilson and the Crisis of Our Time

"When we profess to believe in deterrence and to value justice, but refuse to spend the energy and money required to produce either, we are sending a clear signal that we think that safe streets, unlike all other great public goods, can be had on the cheap."

Titus Techera
Pursuit of Happiness
Apr 8, 2026
Welcome to the Manosphere

What counter-programming might resonate, reaching young men with the message that unhealthy conspiracism and cartoonish machismo need not be a part of a healthy striver mentality?

Tal Fortgang
Pursuit of Happiness
Apr 3, 2026
Celebrating Passover in Communist Exile

When we children found out the name of our feast, we had already crossed the big sea, eaten lots of bread dipped in sour milk, and the bitter herbs were beginning to taste quite sweet.

Juliana Geran Pilon
Pursuit of Happiness
Apr 1, 2026
The Dignity of Relational Beings

Advancements in technology may lead us to discount the personal effort required to show up for others.

Ainsley Weber
Pursuit of Happiness
Mar 31, 2026
No items found.