California’s population climbed above 39.5 million in 2024, marking the second year of growth.
The state, the nation’s most populous, experienced a string of declines during the coronavirus pandemic.
San Diego contributed to the growth as seven of the state’s 10 largest cities saw an increase in population last year. San Diego grew by more than 1% to roughly 1.4 million.
The state population overall rose an estimated 1%, adding 108,000 people compared to 2023, according to a report released Thursday by the Department of Finance.
The increase is due in part to the number of births outpacing deaths and a boost in the number of adults 65 and older. The state said it also had better data to account for increases in legal immigration into the state.
About one in nine people living in the United States reside in California.
Gov. Gavin Newsom touted the population gains as a sign of the state’s growing economy, which is one of the largest in the world.
“People from across the nation and the globe are coming to the Golden State to pursue the California Dream, where rights are protected and people are respected,” the Democrat said in a statement. “Regions throughout California are growing, strengthening local communities and boosting our state’s future.”
But Republicans in the Democrat-dominated state and beyond have taken aim at California’s population declines in the past and the loss of its residents to Texas.
Critics have tied past population decreases in the Golden State to the homelessness crisis and rising cost of living.
“If the Governor thinks a one-year bump means the state’s doing fine, he’s ignoring the reality most families are living in,” said Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher of Chico.
Eric McGhee, a policy director and senior fellow at the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California, said the period of decline was significant because prior to it, “in our entire existence as a state, we had never lost population before.”
“We were often one of the fastest-growing states,” he said. “So it was unusual for us to be losing population, to say the least.”
The growth California saw in 2024 “is still very modest,” McGhee said.
The state also revised its estimate for legal immigration into California from other countries from 2021 to 2024 by roughly 277,000 people, citing better data. The estimated total number of legal immigrants during that period now stands at about 655,000, the Department of Finance said.
The population rose in nine of the 10 largest counties, with Los Angeles County increasing by 28,000 compared to 2023. In Contra Costa, the state’s ninth most populous county, the number of residents fell by just two dozen.
San Francisco, San Jose and Anaheim saw decreases in population of less than 0.5%.
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