California’s population grew in 2023, halting 3 years of decline

By ADAM BEAM | Associated Press

SACRAMENTO — The nation’s most populous state is growing again.

California gained population last year for the first time since 2019, according to a new estimate released Tuesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration.

The net increase of just over 67,000 residents in 2023 — a 0.17% increase — stopped a three-year trend of population decline, which included the state’s first-ever year-over-year loss during the pivotal census year of 2020 that later led to California losing a congressional seat. The state estimates California now has more than 39.1 million residents.

The Newsom administration had blamed the decline on a combination of increased mortality rates during the coronavirus pandemic, a declining birth rate and a slowdown in legal international immigration caused by the pandemic and stricter immigration rules during President Donald Trump’s administration.

But critics pointed to a surge of people leaving California for other states, interpreting it as residents fed up with higher taxes, a larger homeless population and a shortage of housing while Democrats have been in power.

More people still left California in 2023 than moved here from other states, but it was far less than previous years. In 2021 — when the coronavirus was still surging and more people were transitioning to remote work — California lost a net 355,648 people because of domestic migration.

In 2023 — with the pandemic winding down and companies placing more emphasis on returning to in-office workspaces — 91,189 more people moved away from California than into the state. That number is much closer to pre-pandemic trends, according to Walter Schwarm, chief demographer for the California Department of Finance.

“We saw it increase at the beginning of the pandemic because there was a certain amount of individuals who moved out of state associated with the ability to work remotely, but we’ve seen that trend reverse,” said H.D. Palmer, spokesperson for the California Department of Finance.

Meanwhile, growth from legal international immigration — which has been California’s growth engine for decades — rebounded with a net gain of 114,200 people in 2023, or almost back to the same level it was before the pandemic.

“With immigration processing backlogs largely eliminated and deaths returning to long-term trends, a stable foundation for continued growth has returned,” the Department of Finance noted in a news release announcing the estimate.

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