Pharmaceutical giant McKesson left California in 2019. In terms of public companies, only Apple loomed larger in the Bay Area.

Then-CEO John H. Hammergren said that McKesson was moving its headquarters to Las Colinas, Texas (near Dallas) to “improve efficiency, collaboration and cost-competitiveness, while providing an exceptional work environment for our employees.”

McKesson remains the highest-ranking Fortune 500 company to leave California in recent years.

Oil giant Chevron had deep roots in California, going back to the 1870s when an early predecessor discovered oil north of Los Angeles. That didn’t stop the company from moving to Houston in 2024.

Looking back on its move, the energy giant says that California’s leaders have taken steps that made it “unappealing.”

“While our relocation has very real benefits to our business, we also believe California policymakers have pursued policies that raise costs and consumer prices, creating a hardship for all Californians, especially those who can least afford it,” Ross Allen, a spokesperson for Chevron, said in a statement to Business Insider. “These policies have also made California investment unappealing compared with opportunities elsewhere in the US and globally.”

Like some of his fellow tech CEOs, Elon Musk grew frustrated with the limitations of the Bay area before Tesla left for Austin in 2021.

“There’s a limit to how big you can scale in the Bay Area,” Musk said at the time.

Before the move, Musk had also clashed with officials over keeping Tesla’s Fremont, California, factory open despite COVID-19 orders.

In 2020, Oracle left its longtime home in California. The computer technology giant isn’t done moving yet.

Last year, CEO Larry Ellison said the computer technology giant would move its headquarters from Austin, where it had been for less than half a decade, to Tennessee.

“Nashville is a fabulous place to live,” Ellison said, according to an Associated Press report. “It’s a great place to raise a family. It’s got a unique and vibrant culture …. It’s the center of the industry we’re most concerned about, which is the health care industry.”

Global real estate company CBRE monitors the number of companies leaving California. The firm itself left Los Angeles in 2020.

“Designating Dallas as CBRE’s global corporate headquarters formalizes how our company has been operating for the past eight years,” Lew Horne, head of operations in the Southwest, said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times in 2020.

Charles Schwab left for Westlake, Texas, in 2019 after it agreed to buy Omaha-based TD Ameritrade.

Schwab chairman and founder Charles Schwab singled out the business climate in California as motivation for the move: “The costs of doing business here are so much higher than some other place” he told Forbes.

The companies said in a joint statement that their new home would “allow the combined firm to take advantage of the central location of the new Schwab campus.”

In 2023, SFGate reported that Schwab further reduced its presence in San Francisco, its former home.

“We’ve had an extremely positive experience in Texas,” a spokesperson from Schwab said in a statement to BI. “From day one, the energy, innovation, and welcoming spirit of North Texas has far exceeded our expectations.”

In 2020, Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced it was leaving California, another COVID-19 era departure.

“Houston is also an attractive market for us to recruit and retain talent, and a great place to do business,” CEO Antonio Neri said in a statement announcing the move.

Neri praised HPE’s new home in Spring, Texas (a Houston suburb), but stressed that the company was not leaving Silicon Valley entirely.

“Our San Jose campus will remain a hub for technological talent and innovation,” he said.

Software giant Palantir left Silicon Valley in 2020. Before the tech company moved, CEO Alex Karp said he had concerns about California.

“I’m pretty happy outside the monoculture in New Hampshire,” Karp told Axios in May 2020 when asked if he would move back to California as the COVID-19 pandemic was receding.

Karp said at the time that Palantir was narrowing down its list of future homes, which potentially included Colorado.

Palantir has been in Denver since August 2020.

Elon Musk promised to move SpaceX to Texas in 2024, part of a series of announcements that positioned his companies away from California.

In announcing SpaceX’s relocation, Musk singled out a California law that forbids schools from requiring staff to inform parents of a student’s gender identity.

“This is the final straw,” Musk wrote on X in July 2024. “Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas.”

Kenvue, Johnson & Johnson’s spun-off healthcare division, uprooted Neutrogena from California in 2024 as part of a corporate consolidation.

Roughly 100 employees were affected by Kenvue’s decision to shut down Neutrogena’s Los Angeles headquarters, SFGate reported. The well-known cosmetics company had been in California since it was founded in 1930 as a supplier to the stars.

Kenvue said it was relocating Neutrogena’s operations to its then-planned global headquarters in Summit, New Jersey. In March 2025, the company held its grand opening of its new HQ.

Hugh Hefner’s bachelor pad is no more. And neither will be Playboy’s home in California.

In August, the iconic men’s lifestyle brand announced that it was moving to Miami. While Hefner’s famous Playboy Mansion was in Los Angeles, the company was headquartered in Chicago from the magazine’s inception in 1953 to 2012. Hefner, who died in 2017, wanted to be closer to Playboy’s operations.

“Miami Beach is among the most dynamic and culturally influential cities in the country, making it the ideal home for Playboy’s next chapter,” CEO Ben Kohn said in a statement.

In an interview with Fox News, Kohn said it was too difficult to keep doing business in California.

“Given Florida and Miami’s pro-business stance, leaving California, which is anti-business and a very difficult place to do business as an employer, we’re excited to be relocating to Miami Beach,” Kohn told the outlet. “And the city of Miami Beach has been phenomenal and helpful in the move.”

Relator.com said it was moving its Bay Area headquarters to Austin.

“Austin and Texas offer a strong and growing talent pool, a powerhouse economy with unparalleled housing growth, affordability of living only matched by its aspirational lifestyle, expansive tech and academic communities, and a dynamic and vibrant city at the heart of the thriving state of Texas. There is no better place for us to call home,” CEO Damian Eales said in a statement.

News Corp. CEO Robert Thompson said the media giant was “proud” of the online real estate company’s home. The conglomerate, which also owns Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, operates Relator.com through a subsidiary, Move, Inc.

“We are proud to be housed in a state which understands the crucial role played by business in providing opportunities for personal growth, professional success, and community achievement,” Thompson said in a statement.

Global consultancy firm AECOM left Los Angeles in 2021, saying that Texas offered more benefits.

“Dallas has emerged as a US hub for corporate headquarters and a compelling corporate talent magnet, particularly among our peers and public companies in the engineering and consulting sectors,” a company spokesperson told The LA Times.

Financial data analytics firm FICO, officially known as the Fair Isaac Corporation, quietly moved to Bozeman, Montana, sometime in 2021.

The company, best known for its FICO score, previously moved its corporate headquarters from Minneapolis to San Jose in 2013.

It’s not entirely clear why FICO left California.

Alabama’s famous white barbecue sauce, which is made with mayonnaise, vinegar, salt, and ground black pepper, is described as both creamy and tangy.

The sauce, which is said to have been invented in the 1920s by Bob Gibson of Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur, Alabama, often comes served on a sandwich or with grilled or fried chicken.

Alaska is famous for its salmon, although whether locals prefer it smoked, grilled, or pan-seared is a matter of debate.

For a classic Alaskan dish, pairing salmon with vegetables or a bagel and cream cheese is a good way to enjoy the state’s most famous fish.

You might not know that chimichangas were invented in Arizona.

As Tucson Foodie reported, two different restaurants in Tucson claim they originated the dish, which features a large meat burrito filled with vegetables and spices, deep-fried, and topped with cheese and sauce.

Fans of fried pickles have Arkansas to thank for the iconic snack. The first fried dill pickles ever sold anywhere first appeared on the menu of the Duchess Drive-In in Atkins, Arkansas, in the summer of 1963, Encyclopedia of Arkansas reported.

California is famous for its avocados, so it should come as no surprise that avocado toast is one of the most popular and famous local dishes in the Golden State. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that California residents have been making avocado toast for more than 130 years.

An issue of The Daily Alta California from 1885 lists a recipe that suggests spreading avocado “on slices of bread, and season with salt and pepper.”

The first “Fool’s Gold” sandwich, a sourdough loaf stuffed with peanut butter, blueberry jam, and a pound of bacon, was invented by the now-closed Colorado Mine Company, a restaurant in Denver.

The sandwich shot to fame after Elvis Presley tried the sandwich and loved it so much, he took his private jet to Denver and back in one night just to order one.

Culture Trip reported that the first documented lobster roll was served at a Milford, Connecticut, restaurant named Perry’s in 1929.

However, while you might be familiar with New-England style or Maine lobster rolls, the folks down in Connecticut do things a little differently. In a Connecticut-style lobster roll, a split bun is stuffed with warm lobster meat and just a drizzle of melted butter.

Delaware’s official state dessert is peach pie, and peaches are an integral part of the state’s agricultural industry.

According to the Delaware government website, “peach farming is an important part of Delaware’s agricultural heritage, as the peach was introduced to Delaware in Colonial times and expanded as an industry in the nineteenth century.”

At its peak in 1875, the state shipped six million baskets of peaches to market.

While these sandwiches can, of course, be traced back to Cuba, what we know now as a “Cuban sandwich” is largely thanks to Cuban immigrants in Tampa, Florida. Thrillist reported that the sandwiches made in Cuba and the United States had a few key differences in ingredients.

The Florida version, which used salami imported from Italy in some cases, became known as a “Cuban sandwich.”

Both Brunswick County, Virginia, and Brunswick, Georgia, lay claim to inventing Brunswick stew.

However, a 25-gallon iron pot on top of a town monument in Brunswick, Georgia, reads that the very first Brunswick stew was cooked inside it way back in 1898.

Kālua pork, which is smoked, shredded pork shoulder sometimes mixed with cabbage, is one of Hawaii’s most famous local dishes — in Hawaiian, kālua translates as “to cook in an underground oven.”

Many have traced the origin of finger steaks — fried pieces of beef — back to Milo’s Torch Lounge in Boise. Idaho Beef says that chef Milo Bybee invented the dish in 1957 as a way to make use of the restaurant’s leftover tenderloin.

While you might assume that all pizza originates in Italy, deep-dish pizza is actually American.

The BBC reported that restaurant owners Ike Sewell and Ric Riccardo introduced their creation, an Italian-American pizza they called deep-dish, at Pizzeria Uno in Chicago’s Near North Side neighborhood in 1943.

Pork tenderloin sandwiches, also called “Hoosier sandwiches,” can be traced back to Nick Freienstein, a Huntington, Indiana, native-born to German parents. Eater reported the dish was originally inspired by wiener schnitzel, a Viennese-style veal dish that is breaded and pan-fried.

In 1904, Freienstein began selling sandwiches and burgers out of a food cart. While veal was hard to come by in his hometown, pork was readily available. After he added pickles and onions to his fried pork tenderloin sandwich, Freienstein’s cart took off. He is credited with creating the first “Hoosier sandwich.”

While fried catfish is a popular dish throughout the South, Iowans are also fond of the dish.

A cross between a sloppy joe and a cheeseburger, loose meat sandwiches are a favorite among Kansas locals. The Nu-Way Cafe, a Wichita-based chain of restaurants, is famous for its loose meat sandwiches.

In other parts of the county, they are known as tavern sandwiches or Maid-Rites, named after the Iowa chain.

According to local lore, beer cheese was invented by Chef Joe Allman for his cousin Johnnie, the owner of the Driftwood Inn near Winchester, Kentucky. The Downtown Winchester Beer Cheese Festival reported that the dish was originally created by Allman to entice customers to order more beer with their meals.

Gumbo, a traditional stew consisting primarily of a strong-flavored stock, meat or shellfish, a thickener, and vegetables, is the official state cuisine of Louisiana.

Its roots have been traced back to the late 1800s, and many food historians believe it to have evolved from ki ngombo, an okra-based stew brought over by slaves to colonial Louisiana. 

Maine is famous for its lobster rolls, largely due to the fact lobster is one of Maine’s most profitable exports.

However, while the first lobster roll can be traced back to Connecticut, Maine-style lobster rolls often consist of cold lobster meat, rather than warm meat, dressed with mayonnaise and served in a toasted bun.

Crab cakes can likely be traced back to Native American cooking in the Chesapeake Bay region of the United States.

However, the first official recipe for crab cakes appeared in a cookbook written by Crosby Gaige in the 1930s, under the name “Maryland Crab Cakes,” Baltimore Magazine reported.

Clam chowder has roots all over the Northeast but New England-style clam chowder is said to have been first served in Boston at Ye Olde Union Oyster House in 1836, Eater reported.

Wet burritos, which come covered in red chile sauce and tons of cheese, are said to have been created at the Beltline Bar in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the restaurant’s website says. 

While some say corn dogs, then called “corny dogs,” were introduced at the State Fair of Texas between 1938 and 1942, Pronto Pup vendors at the Minnesota State Fair claim to have invented the first breaded-and-fried hot dog in 1942, Eater reported.

Eater reported that Mississippi mud pie, a dessert made with pudding, cake, biscuits, ice cream, whipped cream, marshmallows, and some kind of liqueur like Kahlua or amaretto, was reportedly invented in the Vicksburg-Natchez area outside Jackson, Mississippi.

Henry Perry is known as the “father of Kansas City barbecue” — he began selling slow-smoked meats wrapped in newspaper for 25 cents in the Garment District of Kansas City, across the Missouri border, in the early 1900s.

He later opened Kansas City’s first official barbecue restaurant in an old trolley barn. Perry loved barbecue so much that, on his death certificate, his occupation was listed as “barbecue man.”

While meat pies originate from New Zealand and parts of Europe, they’re also really popular in Montana.

Oftentimes called “pasties,” the meat pies grew in popularity due to the large population of Irish miners living in Butte, Montana, who found them easy to transport to work each day.

The classic Reuben sandwich, made with corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and Thousand Island dressing, and served on rye bread, was supposedly invented by an Omaha, Nebraska, grocer in 1925, The Nebraska State Historical Society reported. 

Although the shrimp cocktail may not have been invented in Nevada or even the United States, Las Vegas residents have certainly claimed it as their own.

The Golden Gate Hotel & Casino says that in 1959, it introduced Las Vegas to its famous, world-recognized 50-cent shrimp cocktail. Ever since, visitors have enjoyed partaking in the city’s signature dish.

While Vermont produces more maple syrup than any other state, New Hampshire is also known for its syrup production. True Granite State natives are known to douse their pancakes in 100% New Hampshire syrup.

Disco fries, which are french fries smothered in gravy, mozzarella, and other toppings, originate from the Garden State.

Local legend has it that the late-night dish got its name from the hoards of people pouring into New Jersey diners after a long night of dancing, in search of the perfect snack.

Green chiles are the state’s signature vegetable, so it comes as no surprise that New Mexico natives would want to add the ingredient to their burgers.

New York is undeniably famous for its pizza, from cheap and cheerful $1 slices to more gourmet versions. New York City is also home to the nation’s first pizzeria, Lombardi’s, which opened in Little Italy in 1905. 

Krispy Kreme began operating in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on July 13, 1937. At the time, the owner Vernon Rudolph was only selling his donuts to local grocery stores.

However, after people passing by the bakery asked about the heavenly scent, he cut a hole in an outside wall and began selling glazed donuts to people on the sidewalk.

North Dakota is famous for its walleye, and the state is known not only for selling the fried fish on its own but also in sandwiches.

What’s Cooking America reported that Cincinnati prides itself on being the chili capital of the United States with more than 180 chili parlors. Thinner in consistency and commonly served over pasta, the dish is slightly different from traditional chili.

Cincinnati-style chili is also often topped with chopped onions, shredded cheese, beans, and crushed oyster crackers. 

Chicken-fried steak often comes served with mashed potato and gravy and is popular all over the South.

However, one state loves the dish so much that it decided to make it official. In 1988, Oklahomans named chicken-fried steak one of their state meals, the Oklahoma Historical Society reported.

Clamming is a popular activity in Oregon, where shellfish is abundant. So, it makes perfect sense that one of the most famous dishes from Oregon would involve clams.

The state’s most famous food by far is the classic Philly cheesesteak, which is believed to have been invented by a hot dog vendor in 1930, Visit Philadelphia reported. 

The sandwich contains thinly cut steak handsomely topped with cheese on a roll, plus sautéed onions, peppers, mushrooms, mayonnaise, hot sauce, salt, pepper, or ketchup.

Also called stuffed Quahogs or stuffies, stuffed clams are the unofficial dish of Rhode Island.

To make them, you’ll just need to mix chopped clam meat, breadcrumbs, herbs, diced onion, bell pepper, and celery together, then bake the mixture inside a clamshell.

While the exact origin of shrimp and grits is largely unknown, it’s thought that the dish might have stemmed from Charleston, South Carolina, or the larger Carolina region.

Today, shrimp and grits is a favorite dish in South Carolina.

Instead of traditional taco shells, those in South Dakota use frybread, which is flattened dough cooked in hot oil until puffy and crispy, to make Navajo tacos.

However, while the dish is delicious, it also has a controversial history. Native Americans living in South Dakota invented the dish, but it was less about making a tasty meal and more about survival. 

Lisa Ironcloud, who works with food sovereignty programs, told Argus Leader that frybread was invented because Native Americans could make it using rationed ingredients like yeast and because it “filled their stomachs.”

Nashville hot chicken, which is famous for being extremely spicy, also has quite a spicy history. Nashville hot chicken was originally invented when Thornton Prince, the owner of Prince’s Hot Chicken where legend says hot chicken was first created, came home to find his lover upset.

To get revenge, she served him chicken covered in extra-hot spices. However, Prince liked the dish so much that he decided to open a restaurant and serve a version of it to local people in Nashville.

Texas is practically synonymous with barbecue. However, while other states have their own way of barbecuing, Texas-style barbecue focuses on beef as the main course.

The New York Times reported that pastrami burgers were popularized by Crown Burgers in Salt Lake City, and are still one of the city’s most famous foods. The burgers come topped with a Thousand Island-style sauce as well as tomatoes, shaved lettuce, and onions, but can also come served with cheese or other toppings.

Vermont corn chowder is a state-favorite dish made with a milk-based broth, corn, and other vegetables like onions, potatoes, and cabbage, thickened with flour or Vermont cheddar cheese. Bacon is also commonly added to the dish.

Virginia’s government website claims that “Virginia is for Oyster Lovers,” and there’s a reason. Not only is Virginia home to multiple oyster festivals but Virginia oysters can be harvested in eight different regions of the state.

While fish and chips are often thought of as a quintessentially British dish, the state of Washington is equally famous for its flaky, fried fish and chips.

The roots of biscuits and gravy can be traced back to the Southern Appalachian region of the United States in the late 1800s. The Washington Post reported that the earliest version of this Southern food used sausage gravy, which was also called “sawmill gravy” at the time.

Historians believe that the food was hearty enough to power sawmill workers through their long days lifting heavy logs, and also thick and flavorful enough to make biscuits of that era “more palatable.”

Fried cheese curds are a favorite dish in Wisconsin, the state famous for its cheese and dairy products. What’s Cooking America reported that cheese factories in the state have to make cheese curds daily to meet the high demand for the product.

Turducken, an over-the-top hybrid food that consists of a chicken stuffed inside a duck that’s then stuffed inside a turkey all separated by layers of stuffing, was reportedly invented by Louisiana chef Paul Prudhomme in a lodge in Wyoming, The New York Times reported.