California’s Population In Decline For the 2nd Year After The Pandemic
Sunglasses with flag of USA on a sandy beach. Nearby is a sea lightning and a painted smile. The concept of a successful vacation in the resorts of USA.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The nation’s most populous state is shrinking.
California’s population declined again in 2021 for the second consecutive year, state officials said Monday, the result of a slowdown in births and immigration coupled with an increase in deaths and people leaving the state.
With an estimated 39,185,605 residents, California is still the U.S.’s most populous state, putting it far ahead of second-place Texas and its 29.5 million residents. But after years of strong growth brought California tantalizingly close to the 40 million milestone, the state’s population is now roughly back to where it was in 2016 after declining by 117,552 people this year.
California’s population growth had been slowing even before the pandemic as baby boomers’ aged, younger generations were having fewer children and more people were moving to other states. But the state’s natural growth — more births than deaths — and its robust international immigration had been more than enough to offset those losses.
That changed in 2020, when the pandemic killed tens of thousands of people above what would be expected from natural causes, a category demographers refer to as “excess deaths.” And it prompted a sharp decline in international immigration because of travel restrictions and limited visas from the federal government.
California’s population fell for the first time that year. At the time, state officials thought it was a outlier, the result of a pandemic that turned the world upside down. But the new estimate released Monday by the California Department of Finance showed the trend continued in 2021, although the decline was less than it had been in 2020.
State officials pointed specifically to losses in international immigration. California gained 43,300 residents from other countries in 2021. But that was well below the annual average of 140,000 that was common before the pandemic.
Walter Schwarm, California’s chief demographer, said he wasn’t surprised by the decline because “It takes awhile for the machinery of government and others to get back to normal.”
“I think we will be looking at positive growth when we talk about the year 2022,” he said.
Critics point to the steady stream of people leaving California as an indictment on the state’s policies, which are set by Democrats in the governor’s office and the state Legislature. About 280,000 more people left California for other states than moved here in 2021, continuing a decades-long trend.
“It’s not because we no longer have good weather,” quipped Republican Assemblymember Kevin Kiley, who is running for Congress this year after failing to unseat Gov. Gavin Newsom in last year’s recall election.
That problem is not easily fixed. California has been losing population to other states for 30 years, said Eric McGhee, a senior at the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonpartisan think tank. It’s one reason why he thinks California has is “in a period of stagnation for the foreseeable future.”
“California is one of the biggest losers in that calculation. It’s hard to see that changing significantly,” he said. “It says something about how hard it is for people to afford living here.”
About The Author
