In California for a third consecutive year, the Golden State population continues to shrink. California’s population has dropped another fifth of a percent since 2023. Last year about 75,000 residents left the state in 2023. California has had the fourth largest population since July 1, 2022 of all of the states in America. Wow, California’s population is slowing down and decreasing. It remains among a few states losing residence like New York, Louisiana, Hawaii, West Virginia, and Oregon in Pennsylvania.
The article states that the decline of the population of California has turned political. Many Republicans argue that California’s high tax rates, cost-of-living crime, and heavy regulations are actually the causes of the population shrinkage. There is a decline in deaths due to Covid in comparison to years before there’s also a return to “normal patterns of foreign legal migration”. According to the California Department of finance, the Golden State decline in population should level off, and the stage should begin to grow again in the next few years. Within a year to 18 months we should anticipate the return of a stable population growth, but it will be a lot slower than the years prior. I wonder if this would affect how many seats in the house California has, because of the huge decrease in population.
Population growth has been an issue all around the US for the last few years. It is interesting to see how California is starting to not follow the trend. I wonder what kinds of effects this will have on issues normally associated with high populations?