Rap,
The myth that sanctuary cities are more expensive to maintain is GOP claptrap, mouthed by people who are anti-immigrant and it s patently untrue. Undocumented residents of California do not suck up public services, they are not entitled to public assistance of any kind, they can't register vote. Their wages are taxed, they pay sales tax, and they pay into social security from which, they will never be able to collect. I have worked along side these folks in California vineyards for the past 10 years and they are among the hardest working, friendly, honest, people I have ever encountered. I would much prefer to have them as my neighbors than a bunch of tRumpistas.
SF, as are many other California Cities, is expensive because California's economy is booming. Fifth largest economy in the world and CA has become overcrowded as a result. California fuel taxes are high, because there is a vast amount of infrastructure that is currently undergoing seismic retrofit. It costs money. The basic cost of fuel, unburdened by taxes is higher on the West Coast than anywhere else. The primary reason for this is that there are no gasoline pipelines that run into California from Texas or other energy producing areas. All of the fuel that is consumed on the West Coast is produced and refined here, so the oil companies have a captive market that they can and do exploit.
We recently relocated to the Portland area and fuel costs here are less than in the Bay Area by about $1.00 to $1.50 a gallon. The difference is primarily taxes. Oregon doesn't have the seismic retrofit issues that California has. The population of California is 10 times that of Oregon, so you would expect the cost of building and maintaining automotive infrastructure in Oregon to be less as well as the taxes that pay for it.
I read a recent report that California looses about 1.2% of its population, mostly to Nevada, Washington, Arizona and Texas. Oregon is not even in the top 5 places that Californians relocate to.
