California’s population jumps to near pre-pandemic levels

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California’s population grew this year by nearly a quarter of a million residents, closing in on record-high population levels the Golden State reached before the pandemic, the US Census Bureau reported last week.

Data showed the state is growing more slowly than the country as a whole and other large states in the South.

“As the nation’s population surpasses 340 million, this is the fastest annual population growth the nation has seen since 2001,” the US Census Bureau wrote in a statement Thursday. “The growth was primarily driven by rising net international migration.”

After consistent population growth through the 2010s, California’s population peaked at 39,556,000, according to the 2020 decennial census, before losing nearly 1% of its population by July 1, 2021, amid pandemic restrictions.

Between 2020 and 2022, the California exodus had significant impacts on the state. In 2021, the state lost one congressional representative, dropping to 52 seats from 53 in the House of Representatives, and the state had one fewer electoral college vote in 2024 than in 2020. Critics of the state’s leadership point to crime rates, high taxes and high property costs as reasons for residents fleeing to other less regulated states, like Texas and Florida.

The Census Bureau’s Vintage 2024 population estimates show California’s population on July 1, 2024 was 39,431,000, an increase of 233,000 from the year before, and just 125,000 short of the 2020 high point.

U.S. immigrant population in 2023 saw largest increase in more than 20 years