SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California ’s population climbed above 39.5 million in 2024, marking the second year of growth following a string of declines in the nation’s most populous state during the coronavirus pandemic.
The population 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 from other countries.
About one in nine people living in the United States reside in California.
The Democratic governor touted the population gains as a sign of the state’s growing economy, which is one of the largest in the world. The size of the state's economy has now surpassed that of Japan, which puts it only behind the U.S. as a whole, China and Germany, Newsom's office announced last week.
“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,” Newsom 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, which previously made up the largest state-to-state movement in the U.S., according to U.S. Census data.
Critics have tied past population decreases in the Golden State to the relentless homelessness crisis and rising cost of living. California has some of the highest housing, gas and utility prices in the country.
“Californians are still leaving because of high costs, bad policies, and a government that punishes work and rewards dysfunction," Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher said. "If the Governor thinks a one-year bump means the state’s doing fine, he’s ignoring the reality most families are living in.”
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.
Seven of the 10 largest cities saw an increase in population in 2024, including Bakersfield and San Diego, which both grew by more than 1% to roughly 419,000 and 1.4 million, respectively. San Francisco, San Jose and Anaheim saw decreases in population by less than 0.5%.
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 that is part of the San Francisco Bay Area, the number of residents fell by just two dozen.
In Mono, a small county on the California-Nevada border around Yosemite National Park, the population growth rate fell by about 1.6%.
Austin is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on X: @sophieadanna
FILE - The Los Angeles skyline is seen from a Baldwin Hills overlook, Feb. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, file)
