History: Dust Bowl, Dirty Thirties, 1930s, Great Plains, American And Canadian Prairies

The Dust Bowl exodus was the largest migration in American history within a short period of time. By 1940, 2.5 million people had moved out of the Plains states; of those, 200,000 moved to California. In just over a year, over 86,000 people migrated to California. This number is more than the number of migrants to that area during the 1849 Gold Rush. With their land barren and homes seized in foreclosure, many farm families were forced to leave. Migrants left farms in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico, but were often generally referred to as "Okies", "Arkies", or "Texies". Terms such as "Okies" and "Arkies" came to be known in the 1930s as the standard terms for those who had lost everything and were struggling the most during the Great Depression.
However, migrants did not always travel long distances; many would simply travel to the next town or county. No matter the distance, the Dust Bowl caused the proportion between migrants and residents to be nearly equal in the Great Plains states because of the high number of families that left their farms.
• Characteristics of migrants
When James N. Gregory examined the Census Bureau statistics, as well as other surveys, he discovered some surprising percentages. For example, in 1939, the Bureau of Agricultural Economics surveyed the occupations of about 116,000 families who had arrived in California in the 1930s. It showed that only 43 percent of southwesterners were doing farm work immediately before they migrated. Nearly one-third of all migrants were professional or white-collar workers. The poor economy brought more than just farmers as refugees to California; many teachers, lawyers, and small business owners moved west with their families during this time. After the Great Depression ended, some moved back to their original states, but many remained where they had started their new lives. In fact, around one-eighth of California's population is of Okie heritage.