How I’d split California, economically speaking

Let my trusty spreadsheet join the parade of ideas on splitting up California.

Now, none of the concepts redrawing state borders have a political chance of becoming reality. There are simply too many partisan hurdles to overcome. But the breakup chatter continues because there are some wide divides across the Golden State that aren’t easy to bridge.

New population stats from the state Department of Finance reminded me that many of these chasms have a similar theme, at least economically speaking: the coastal communities vs. their inland peers.

First, here’s the suggested California split.

One state – let’s call it West California – comprises 17 ocean-close counties from the Bay Area to the Mexican border. It stretches from Sonoma, Marin, Napa, Solano, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties through Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara to Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego.

The second proposed state – let’s call it East California – holds the 41 other largely inland counties.

Let’s start with a peek at populations. As of July 1, there were 26.3 million folks in West California – essentially double the 13.2 million in East California.

Please contemplate the heft of these two regions. The only state with more residents than my West California is Texas. And only Texas, Florida and New York are more populated than the theoretical East California.

So we’re still t...