After a couple of years of losing residents, California’s population is once again on the upswing.
For the second straight year, California’s population increased in 2024, marking a turnaround from the exiting trend that emerged amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
As recently as 2023, researchers found that more people were moving out of the Golden State than were moving to it.
In 2024, however, the state added about 108,000 people, according to the office of Gov. Gavin Newsom, to reach a population of 39,529,000.
“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 the release. “As the fourth largest economy in the world — from the Inland Empire to the Bay Area — regions throughout California are growing, strengthening local communities and boosting our state’s future. We’ll continue to cut tape, invest in people, and seek real results from government to ensure we build on this momentum – all of which are at risk with the extreme and uncertain tariffs.”
Newsom’s office also took aim at the years of population decrease, citing U.S. Census Bureau numbers showing the losses were far smaller than initially thought and, in some cases, years of decline were actually years of slight increases.
“Despite the common myth of a continually declining population, California has only saw a short period of population loss in its 174 year history — during the peak of the COVID pandemic, when it decreased by 379,544 people (which represents about 1% decrease over those two years), according to the U.S. Census Bureau,” the release explained.