Molly Coogan always had a go-bag packed. Her in-laws’ home had burned in the Nuns Fire in Sonoma County in 2017, and she and her husband knew wildfire risk all too well. But like most people with an emergency kit tucked away, she believed, almost out of desperation, that she’d never actually use it.

When winds blew down their back fence and a tree fell on their neighbor’s house early on Jan. 7, 2025, in Altadena, the foothill community northeast of downtown Los Angeles, the Coogans had a bad feeling. The Palisades Fire, well to the west along the coast, was already ravaging entire city blocks, and resources were stretched thin. They evacuated, grabbing the go-bag and packing up the family to flee to a friend’s house in Glendale. Their large group chat of Altadena neighbors, formed mostly to warn one another about local bear sightings, became a hyper-local news lifeline. By the next afternoon, they knew their house was gone.

With LA in chaos, the Coogans made a quick decision to fly up to the Bay Area, where they both grew up and had family living in the area. They never thought that decision would mean they’d never return. 

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FILE: Firefighters arrive on the scene as an apartment building burns during the Eaton fire in the Altadena area of Los Angeles County, Calif., on Jan. 8, 2025. 

Coogan and her family are just one of many households swept up in the accidental LA exodus that forced so many residents to leave the area permanently. If they hadn’t lost their home or become fearful of lingering toxins or fire risk, they might’ve never made that choice, but they left and don’t see themselves ever coming back. Others are still weighing their options, stuck in an extended limbo away from the city they love, unsure if they’ll return or not. 

Los Angeles County lost the most residents in California from July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2025, according to the California Department of Finance’s latest population estimates, with around 28,500 people exiting the area. The data attributes much of the losses to the 10 destructive wildfires that ravaged LA County in January 2025, as displaced residents fled to the homes of family and friends, as well as to other refuges across the state and country. It was an unprecedented outflow, the full effect of which is still unknown as numbers continue to fluctuate. 

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The fires destroyed more than 16,000 structures, with thousands more suffering damage. In already housing-starved Southern California, the losses left thousands of people displaced for weeks and months. Coogan feels as lucky as one can, given her situation. She and her family moved into her mother’s house in San Mateo, giving her two sons a loving home and a new school. They decided shortly after that they’d at least stay through the end of the school year to give her older son some stability and time with his grandparents. But within a few months, the couple decided to make the move permanent. “It was not the right choice for our family to go back [to Los Angeles],” she said. 

FILE: An aerial view of properties in Altadena, Calif., that have been cleared of wildfire debris following the Eaton Fire, shown on May 22, 2025. 

Part of that luck was being renters, Coogan explained. They didn’t have to consider whether or not to rebuild or deal with insurance. The devastation of the Eaton Fire, which claimed 19 lives, was also a factor. Entire city blocks filled with homes and local businesses had been reduced to ash. The school that Coogan’s son attended had burned; much of what tethered them to LA was simply gone.

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They had incredible support from friends and family after the fires, but she said living away from the LA community during the healing process has felt miserable. “It’s been extremely isolating up here,” she said, explaining that people in the Bay Area obviously cared but that the fires quickly faded out of view for them after........

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