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By Suzanne Blake
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What's New
California's population surged in 2024, growing by almost a quarter of a million residents.
From 2023 to 2024, the number of residents increased by 233,000 people, reaching 39.4 million in July, the U.S. Census Bureau reported this week.
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Why It Matters
The population surge has allowed California to inch closer to the record-high population it saw prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, before people fled the state for lower costs of living and remote jobs. In 2020, California had 39.5 million residents.
Still, there are indications that the state is not experiencing the population growth that might have been expected after the pandemic ended and some workers were called back to their offices.
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What To Know
California's population growth, while significant, is still far behind that in Florida and Texas in the past five years, according to the Census Bureau's data.
Texas was up by 2 million from 2020 to 2024 to 31.3 million, while Florida grew at a similar rate to 23.3 million this year.
New York, on the other hand, had 20.2 million residents in 2020 but saw its population decline to 19.8 million by this year.
California grew steadily throughout the 2010s before peaking at 39.5 million in 2020. However, a year later, the state lost around 1 percent of its population.
Because of its population decline, California lost a congressional representative in 2021, going from 53 to 52 seats in the House of Representatives.
What People Are Saying
The U.S. Census Bureau in a statement: "As the nation's population surpasses 340 million, this is the fastest annual population growth the nation has seen since 2001. The growth was primarily driven by rising net international migration."
Title and escrow expert Alan Chang told Newsweek: "California has been an attractive state to live in for many reasons, including opportunity, mild weather and local amenities and attractions. With the high cost of living, the growing population and traffic congestion, it still remains a prime area of growth."
Kevin Thompson, founder and CEO of 9i Capital Group, told Newsweek: "Many companies are enforcing return-to-work policies, particularly in Silicon Valley. During the pandemic, companies adopted remote work, but now they're shifting back and requiring employees to return to the office."
He continued: "Those who left for greener pastures quickly discovered that the grass wasn't always greener. For instance, the extreme Texas heat and dry climates don't align with California's outdoor culture, where residents enjoy mild to moderate temperatures year-round."
Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek: "The reports of California's 'mass exodus' have been greatly exaggerated. While the state did lose thousands during the pandemic years due to social and economic restrictions, those restrictions have long since been lifted, remote work is increasingly become more limited in its flexibility, and, despite the high cost of living, California does still offer some of the best-paying jobs in the nation.
"The state remains an attractive one for many Americans to move to, and that's not going to change because of temporary setbacks the pandemic triggered," Beene said.
What's Next
In 2025, California's population is likely to keep growing, Thompson said. This is especially true for workers who left during the pandemic from technology hubs like Silicon Valley.
"While remote work initially led to population declines, it's now influencing a return as companies adjust their policies," Thompson said. "By 2025, I expect California's population to stabilize or see steady growth, driven by its unique environment, favorable weather and shifting dynamics around work and cost of living."
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