Superman actor Dean Cain has left his Malibu, California home due to its “terrible” policies, joining a string of other Hollywood actors fleeing the Golden State.
Cain, best known for his role as Superman/Clark Kent in ABC’s “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” which ran from 1993 to 1997, made the comments in an interview with Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade on June 7.
While the actor revealed his love for California, calling it “the most beautiful state,” Cain explained that the “fiscal policies, the soft-on-crime policies, the homelessness policies” are just “terrible” and that he ultimately decided to leave.
As a result, the actor sold his Malibu home in May for a reported $7.25 million and moved to Las Vegas with his family.
“The things that our leaders in California have been doing have driven out anybody who can really afford to get out. People are flocking out of there in droves,” he said. “And when I listed my house, I cannot tell you the number of people who contacted me and said: ‘Man, if I could get out of here right now, I would right now. Smart move.’”
Cain said he has been in Las Vegas, a low-tax state, for two weeks so far and firmly believes it was a smart decision.
Asked if the move would impact his career, Cain said that the acting industry had been pushed out of the state due to “astronomical” prices for filming, and many production companies have moved to states such as Louisiana, Nevada, and Texas instead, where costs are lower.
He said he has only shot one movie there in the last four or five years.
Other Actors Leaving Golden State
“Everyone I know that is working there wants to get out as well,” he said. “My son is ten times happier here in Las Vegas … I’m smart with my money … staying in California was anything but a smart move,” he added, noting that there is no state income tax in Nevada.
According to NerdWallet, California has a progressive income tax system, with tax rates ranging from 1 percent to 12.3 percent. Income over $1 million is subject to an additional 1 percent tax surcharge.
Cain joins several other high-profile actors leaving California, including Mark Wahlberg.
Wahlberg, who is best known for his roles in movies such as “Boogie Nights,” “Ted,” and “The Departed,” has credited the move as a bid to seek out a “better life.”
The actor, who is currently lobbying Nevada state lawmakers to pass a bill that would increase tax credits for film production in an effort to turn the state into “Hollywood 2.0,” told CNBC on June 1 that he believes there is “so much more opportunity to be created here.”
“There’s so much growth and so much potential, it’s a wonderful opportunity for everybody to prosper,” he said.
Businesses Fleeing California
Cain and Wahlberg are not alone in turning their backs on the Golden State. More than 700,000 people left California from April 2020 to July 2022 to relocate to other U.S. states, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
A string of businesses are also fleeing the state, with the number of departing companies nearly doubling from 2012 to 2019, according to a study commissioned by the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.
According to the findings of that study, 37,313 business establishments migrated to California between 1990 and 2019, while 54,630 moved out of the state, resulting in a net loss of 17,317 business establishments during that period.
Most businesses cited high taxation, increased regulation, and a non-friendly business environment as reasons for the move.
Despite the apparent mass exodus, Gov. Gavin Newsom has regularly touted California as having the “most equitable tax system in the entire country,” with his office noting in a May 18 press release that business license applications are up 46.6 percent in the state since this time last year, marking “the biggest increase of any state.”
“California’s economy continues to dominate the nation and the Golden State is poised to soon become the fourth-largest economy on planet Earth,” his office said in May.
