https://thefederalist.com/2019/12/26/california-faces-lowest-population-growth-since-1900-after-decades-of-economically-ignorant-policies/
As reported by the LA Times, according to data recently released by the Department of Finance, California’s population growth rate for the year ending July 1, 2019, was the lowest the state has experienced since 1900. Estimates indicate the Golden State’s population grew by 0.35 percent over the course of the year (or by 141,000 people), down from 0.57 percent for the previous year ending July 1, 2018.
California’s growth in population was buoyed by the net difference between births and deaths in the state, which amounted to 180,800 people. However, this number was tempered by net losses in migration, which indicate more people are exiting the state than entering it.
While international migration or legal immigration into the state added to California’s population, there was significant negative domestic migration — or rather, people leaving California for other states — amounting to nearly 40,000 residents. According to the Department of Finance, this phenomenon represents “the first time since the 2010 census that California has had more people leaving the state than moving in from abroad or other states.”
What Happened to California’s Population Growth?
But where are these people going? According to William Frey of Brookings Institution, they’re heading elsewhere in the West to places economies are picking up, housing costs are cheaper, and there may be no state income tax. According to Frey, the most popular destinations were Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.
Immigration levels are also declining, which accounts for some of California’s drop in population growth. “In the past, California would be growing because immigration would counteract domestic outmigration,” Frey told the LA times. “The outmigration is in places where housing prices are high and therefore immigration is not being able to counter that.”
Dowell Myers, a demographics expert at USC, told the LA Times that California housing prices are preventing millennials from really establishing the requisite “nest” needed to have kids. He pointed to the shortage of housing choking the supply.
“I think we need to have enough housing for workers to live in and for people to start families. Older people have the right to stay in their houses, but we need to make room for the young people or else we will turn into a retirement city by the sea,” Myers explained. He pointed to LA County as an example, given it experienced a 17 percent decline in the amount of children residing in the area over the last 10 years.
