(PresidentialInsider.com)- For the second year in a row, California’s population dropped in 2021.
According to a report released by the California Department of Finance last week, the state’s population declined by 117,552 people last year, bringing the total population to 39,185,605 people as of January 1.
And while 2021 marked the second consecutive year of population decline, the trend did slow down. In 2021, the state saw a decline of 0.3 percent while in 2020, California saw a 0.59 percent decline in population between the April 2020 census and the end of the year marking the first time in its history that California’s population declined.
The majority of California counties, 34 out of 58, saw a decline in 2021, with the largest population decreases coming from Plumas County (3.4 percent drop), Lassen County (2.8 percent), and Butte County (2.4 percent).
Oddly enough, despite growing complaints about the rise in crime and homelessness, San Francisco County only had a 0.8 percent decline in population last year.
The state’s three most populous counties also saw a drop in population. Los Angeles County’s population declined by 0.7 percent or about 70,000 people. Orange County lost 0.2 percent or about 7,300 people. Meanwhile, San Diego County lost only about 1,200 residents (0.04 percent).
The only areas to gain population were the interior counties in the Central Valley and Inland Empire. Every coastal county except three lost population.
The report concedes that the three coastal counties that gained population, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz, were due in part to the increase in college dorm populations now that the COVID lockdowns are over. When universities went on lockdown during the COVID pandemic, California’s dorm population declined by 45 percent, or about 109,000.
According to the Associated Press, between 2020 and 2021, the state’s population dropped by 182,000. In recent years, California has experienced a net-negative migration, with more residents moving out of the state than are moving in. This slowdown in population growth is the reason California lost a House seat for the first time in history after the 2020 census.
