After declining for years, California’s population is growing again

Marc Sternfield
·2 min read
59

Tens of thousands of people may still be “fleeing” California each year, but the Golden State’s population is finally growing again.

According to Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton, California’s population has climbed above 39 million for the first time since the summer of 2022, citing preliminary data provided by the state demographer.

California’s population reached a peak of 39.5 million in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, causing upheaval in migration patterns nationwide.

Data show the Golden State lost a net of nearly 700,000 people between April 2020 and July 2022. Many left to work remotely from more affordable parts of the country, and the virus also claimed more than 100,000 lives in California.

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The 2023 Census estimated the state’s population at 38,965,193 as of last July.

Today, fewer people are able (or allowed) to work 100% remotely, the death rate from COVID-19 has fallen dramatically, and the Biden administration has reversed many Trump-era limits on legal migration.

“These forces form the prime reasons for the return to positive population growth,” state demographer Walter Schwarm told Skelton in an email.

The data is set to be released on May 1.

Even before the pandemic, California’s historically rapid population growth had begun to level off.

A policy report from Stanford University’s Institute for Economic Policy Research states that “California’s high cost of living has spurred many businesses and residents to leave the state, posing serious consequences for the state’s job market and fiscal outlook.”

The median price of a single-family home in California was $806,490 in February, more than double the national median of $384,500.

The California Department of Finance projects that the state’s population will reach 40.2 million in 2044 and then decline to 39.6 million by 2060.

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