Sure, but the people who do those jobs and buy that real estate have to come from somewhere. In the case of the Southwest, they're largely coming from CA.

A better way to say it, is that the change from normal migration patterns is the influx of Californians. Until fairly recently, people tended to move to California, rather than away from it.

The migration data I use professionally isn't updated to the current year, so I'm largely going off of a combination of articles I've read in passing and anecdotal evidence from house hunting in that region.

The state reports at Cato's Freedom in the 50 States have their recent migration trends. CA lost 2.2% of it's population to migration from 2020-2022, while AZ gained 2.5% and TX gained 1.6%.

The Sunbelt, which includes the Southwest, has basically been the recipient of high migration since air-conditioning was invented, so this is building on a long-term trend.

Midwest always grows slow and struggles slow. Just the way of life there.