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California’s population dropped for the second year in a row, but there’s indication that the rate of decline may be slowing, the state’s Department of Finance said on Monday.
California saw its total population drop by 117,552 residents, or 0.3%, in 2021, bringing the total to 39,185,605.
“The 0.3-percent decline represents a slowing compared to the 0.59-percent decline over the nine month period between the April 2020 Census date and the year’s end,” the state said in its annual population update.
The state said the decline was the result of aging baby boomers, federal policies restricting immigration, COVID-19 deaths and an increase in people leaving the state.
Of the state’s 58 counties, 38 saw population declines, including four Bay Area counties. In the list of counties with the top 10 largest decreases, Plumas saw its population drop by 3.2%, Lassen 2.8 %, Butte 2.4%, Del Norte 1.4%, Napa 1%, San Mateo 0.9%, Marin 0.9%, and Shasta, San Francisco and Ventura all went down 0.8%.
The Central Valley and Inland Empire saw their populations grow, while every coastal county saw a dip except in three college towns — San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz — where students returned to dorms.
Only two counties saw population gains above 1%: Yolo jumped 1.8% due to students returning to the dorms at UC Davis, and San Benito bumped up 1.1% due to new housing being built.
At the height of the pandemic, there was a lot of talk about the so-called “California exodus” — the people who fled the high prices and fast pace of the Golden State for a more relaxed and affordable life in places like Bozeman, Montana, and Austin, Texas.
The latest data is revealing that indeed the state’s population shrank. The San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley metro area saw the third-highest number of residents in the country packing up and moving between July 1, 2020, and July 1, 2021, with a net migration loss of 128,870 people, U.S. Census Bureau data issued in March said.
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