It's not about where California or New York are currently, it's where they were and where they are going because of their policies. California was an amazing place from the 70s-00s, mainly due to it's geography and weather attracting Hollywood and big tech companies. It has an amazing climate for shooting movies consistently due to it's consistent climate and varied diversity of geographical attractions. The climate is also very pleasant to live in, not too hot or cold, not too much extreme weather. Only real issue are wildfires, which actually is much more a consequence of direct governmental policy than something like earthquakes or hurricanes. It's also situated in America making it probably the most attractive place to live in America geographically (maybe behind Hawaii, depending on who you ask).
Despite everything California has going for it over every other state in the country, in the early part of the century, growth stopped. In 2020 it recorded it's first population loss ever as a state. Every year since then it has lost people. Despite the economy and climate.
California and New York (and DC) are worst in terms of net migration rates. In fact there's a clear correlation between democrat run states and losing people:
en.wikipedia.org