Why Apple Moved From California to North Carolina

Folks have been wondering why Apple, headquartered in Cupertino, California, would locate its huge, new, cloud-computing data center in North Carolina.

Here's the reason: it's all about the cost of electricity. It has been...

... reveal[ed] that the company's investment in a new North Carolina facility will triple its electricity consumption, equivalent to the electricity demand of 80,000 average US homes. The facility's power will be supplied by Duke Energy, with a mix of 62% coal and 32% nuclear. 

California has just voted to increase the cost of its electricity dramatically between now and 2020.

There could be a few other reasons:

• unions (North Carolina is a Right to Work state; California is not;
• state corporate and state individual income tax rates; and, 
• minimum wages (California at $8.00 is higher than Federal at $7.25; North Carolina's minimum wage matches Federal, at $7.25)

Odds are it was significantly cheaper to build the facility in North Carolina than California and will be cheaper to operate.

In addition, there is less chance of North Carolina falling into the ocean than California due to earthquakes.