Sylvester Stallone is latest celebrity to flee crime-ridden California (2024)

Sylvester Stallone is the latest in a fleet of celebrities who are packing up and moving out of their California mansions.

The iconic American actor and filmmaker announced his decision to leave the Golden State on an episode of his family's realty TV show.

Stallone, 77, decided that after decades of living in California with his wife, Jennifer Flavin Stallone, and their three daughters, it was time to relocate.

The couple, who nearly divorced in 2022 after 25 years of marriage, have picked Florida as the location for their new home.

All of their daughters have moved out, making the pair 'empty nesters' and allowing them to start fresh.

'It's an empty nest. I need to change it up,' Jennifer Flavin Stallone, 55, explained during the Season Two premier of The Family Stallone on Wednesday.

'We have a lot of roots in California, so it's not an easy transition to Florida,' Sylvester Stallone, 77, said. 'But Jennifer really had her heart set on it. I gave in.'

Stallone recently took the title of overprotective father to the next level by hiring Navy SEALs to provide self-defense trainingfor his eldest daughters before they moved to the crime-plagued New York City.

'Sophia and I got our asses whooped by these guys. They were the real deal,' she continued, adding that the training was filmed for the family's reality show.

Concerned for the safety of his daughters, Sophia, 27, and Sistine, 25, the movie star had to take extra measures by arranging a lesson in 'military-esque self-defense training' for them.

'It was the hardest. It was about six hours we were in those woods,' Sistine told the New York Post ahead of the season two premiere of 'The Family Stallone'.

Their move comes amidst a widespread migration out of the West Coast state as Californians are ditching their LA mansions and flocking to states where you can get more bang for your buck and avoid extortionate taxes, rampant crime and the Golden State's homelessness crisis.

Casey DeSantis, wife of Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis, gave a warm welcome to the state's newest residents.

'Welcome to the Free State of Florida!' the first lady said on social media.

'In addition to respecting and protecting your God-given, constitutional right to be free, you can also buy toothpaste without having an armed guard in CVS unlock it for you.'

Amongst those opting for more remote mansions is Hilary Swank, who put her $10.5 million Pacific Palisades home on the market in 2021 and moved to Coloradowith her family.

She was one of a large group of people who took off during the pandemic, in search of more space and privacy.

Mark Wahlberg revealed in 2022 that was going to join the exodus from California by leaving his longtime home in Los Angeles in favor of Nevada in a quest to eventually build 'Hollywood 2.0' in Sin City.

The 52-year-old actor said he had bid the Golden State farewell in hopes of giving his children a 'better life' in income tax-free Nevada.

Wahlberg wasn't shy about admitting that his move out of California was about taxes, though he focused on how they would affect his businesses.

Comedian, MMA commentator and podcasting icon Joe Rogan moved his Spotify-backed show, as well as the rest of his life, to Texas.

Rogan said he moved to Austin, Texas in 2020 to 'have a little bit more freedom.'

The ex-Fear Factor host and his Texas-born wife, Jessica Ditzel, now live in a lakefront mansion in Austin after moving to the Lone Star state last year.

The podcaster sold his massive 7,573-square-foot residence outside LA in the guard-gated community of Bell Canyon for $3.45 million.

Scott Baio announced his plans toescapefrom California in May 2023 and placed his $3.85 million home on the market, citing the state's disastrous homelessness and crime issues.

On Twitter, the conservative-leaning sitcom star said that he just doesn't feel secure in the Golden State anymore given the various issues under Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom.

The homeless crisisin Los Angeles has skyrocketed in the last handful of years, reaching a total of more than 46,000 people living on the streets, an issue that Mayor Karen Bass committed herself to tackling as soon as she took office last year.

The number of homeless people in LA has more than doubled in the past decade.

There was a 9 percent rise in homelessness in Los Angeles County between 2022 and 2023, with the unhoused population now totaling 75,518 people, according to the latest data from the LAHSA.

The city of Los Angeles saw an estimated 10 percent rise to a total of 46,260 people.

Elon Musk first publicly mentioned his plan to leave California for Texas in a string of furious tweets in May 2020 after a California county health official said that the plant could not reopen amid coronavirus shutdowns.

He then listed seven of his California homes for sale, worth a total of $137 million.

In December 2020, the Tesla CEO and now 'Chief Twit' confirmed he had relocated to Texas after living in California for two decades.

The 52-year-old South African claimed that the state had become 'complacent' when it comes to innovation.