Because it's the state right next to Canada with a major tech hub. We can compare NY to Quebec where at $125k/$100k respectively Quebec has a slight tax advant

Because it's the state right next to Canada with a major tech hub. We can compare NY to Quebec where at $125k/$100k respectively Quebec has a slight tax advantage (33.65%NY vs 32.70%QC) that goes back in favor of NY with +$20k (34.48%NY vs 35.43%QC). Ontario fares better though. Maybe that's the cause of the US rust belt. Nevermind that if you're 90th percentile of California or NY, you'd be making near $300k. So your tax rate might be 10% higher, but your take home is easily triple of what you'd have if you stayed in Canada.