{"id":5956,"date":"2026-07-31T19:41:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T19:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5956"},"modified":"2026-07-31T19:41:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T19:41:18","slug":"population-grew-in-just-24-california-counties-what-does-it-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5956","title":{"rendered":"Population grew in just 24 California counties: What does it mean?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div><iframe allow=\"geolocation\" allowfullscreen=\"yes\" allowtransparency=\"1\" class=\"iframe\" height=\"550px\" id=\"6a6cf2ce5ebc1\" loading=\"lazy\" scrolling=\"yes\" src=\"https:\/\/flo.uri.sh\/visualisation\/29831398\/embed\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>If California wants to grow its population, and I\u2019m often not sure about that, growing the supply of single-family housing might help.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5954\">For Grammy-winning singer Nicole Zuraitis, it\u2019s time to shine<\/a><\/p>\n<p>My trusty spreadsheet helped me see this wisdom by deciphering demographic, real estate and economic data primarily from demographers at the state\u2019s Department of Finance. Their annual accounting of people and residential properties, as of Jan. 1 each year, provides insight into population and housing supply swings within the Golden State.<\/p>\n<p>Eyeballing what occurred between the start of this year and 2019, just before coronavirus upended the globe, gives us a snapshot of what\u2019s working in this pandemic-twisted era. This is tricky, as the overarching pattern is an essentially flat statewide population \u2014 up 89,000 or 0.2% in seven years.<\/p>\n<p>To find hints about what drives population attraction, we dug into the winners and losers: the state\u2019s 58 counties split into two groups \u2013 those that added population over the past seven years vs. those that lost residents.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s certainly an attraction gap. In the 24 growth counties, population was up 3% to 17.3 million. In the 34 shrinking counties, population fell 2% to 22.3 million.<\/p>\n<h4>Attraction factor<\/h4>\n<p>\u201cBuild it, and they will come\u201d sometimes works.<\/p>\n<p>Population flows suggest people were drawn to areas where more housing was being created. During these seven years, the number of housing units grew by 7% where population rose, outpacing the 5% increase where population dropped.<\/p>\n<p>Single-family residences were a key attraction factor.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><span><strong>Also:<\/strong> <\/span><strong>SoCal\u2019s $2 trillion economy is bigger than Florida\u2019s<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The 24 growing counties had a decidedly higher concentration of single-family residences: 72% of their housing units were single-family, compared with just 59% in 34 counties where population declined.<\/p>\n<p>This suggests demand for family-friendly locales, a notion supported by a look at population density.\u00a0This year, there were 2.74 residents per household in population gainers \u2013 slightly more crowded than the 2.55 ratio found where population dropped.<\/p>\n<h4>Build, baby, build<\/h4>\n<p>The growth spots also had more construction for these family-friendly residences.<\/p>\n<p>Single-family creation rose 6% between 2019 and 2026 in California\u2019s growth counties, outpacing a 3% increase where population dropped.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Additionally, growth counties doubled down on single-family housing, with 68% of their housing creation since 2019 in that style. It was just 36% in counties where population dropped.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5952\">Sharks get another piece of business done, sign RFA forward to extension<\/a><\/p>\n<h4>The price is wrong<\/h4>\n<p>Now, cogitate some affordability math that estimates housing costs for these two groups of counties using Census Bureau data tracking home values between 2019 and 2024.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span><strong>Also:<\/strong> <\/span><strong>Can LA-born Thrifty ice cream become a national brand?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Where the population grew, a typical home cost $586,500 vs. $949,500 where the population declined \u2013 a 62% gap.<\/p>\n<p>Need I say more?<\/p>\n<h4>Jobs. Jobs. Jobs.<\/h4>\n<p>Let\u2019s talk about another population magnet: Paychecks.<\/p>\n<p>Looking at federal employment data, bosses in California\u2019s growth counties grew staffing by 8% in seven years. Job growth was just 1% where population dropped.<\/p>\n<p>Now, why were jobs added in those growth counties? It might be an odd measure of employer affordability.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span><strong><span>Follow local housing with our free \u201cHome Stretch\u201d email newsletter.<\/span> <span>SIGN UP HERE!<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Where population grew, the average annualized wage was $74,000 last year vs. $116,000 where population declined \u2013 a 42% gap.<\/p>\n<p>Bosses appear to be choosing lower-cost labor locations, or, as some California critics claim, much of the recent job creation has been in lower-wage industries.<\/p>\n<h4>Inland flavor<\/h4>\n<p>Ponder the 24 California counties with growing populations over the last seven years, ranked by the number of residents they added.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s another reminder of the inland theme to the state\u2019s growth chart.<\/p>\n<p>Nine of the top 10 are far from the coast: Riverside (up 112,700 residents), Sacramento (65,500), San Joaquin (52,800), San Bernardino (47,100), Fresno (41,000), Placer (35,200), Kern (28,700), Tulare (20,400), Merced (16,500).<\/p>\n<p>San Diego, up 41,500, was the outlier.<\/p>\n<p>And none of the other growth counties border the Pacific Ocean: Madera (10,800), Yolo (10,000), Yuba (8,100), Stanislaus (6,200), San Benito (5,400), Imperial (4,900), El Dorado (3,100), Contra Costa (2,800), Kings (1,800), Solano (1,500), Glenn (1,100), Shasta (400), Colusa (300) and Sutter (100).<\/p>\n<p><em>Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5950\">\u2018I\u2019m still me\u2019: East Bay patient undergoes newly cleared robotic mastectomy<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Population flows suggest people were drawn to areas where more housing was being created, much of it far from the coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Population grew in just 24 California counties: What does it mean? - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5956\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Population grew in just 24 California counties: What does it mean? - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Population flows suggest people were drawn to areas where more housing was being created, much of it far from the coast.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5956\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-31T19:41:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5956#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5956\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Population grew in just 24 California counties: What does it mean?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-31T19:41:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5956\"},\"wordCount\":683,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5956#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/6c1bdb808f6a72de1682b66a74f4fc83.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5956#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5956\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5956\",\"name\":\"Population grew in just 24 California counties: What does it mean? - Next City Digest\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5956#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5956#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/6c1bdb808f6a72de1682b66a74f4fc83.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-31T19:41:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5956#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5956\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5956#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/6c1bdb808f6a72de1682b66a74f4fc83.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/6c1bdb808f6a72de1682b66a74f4fc83.webp\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":1125},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5956#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Population grew in just 24 California counties: What does it mean?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Next City Digest\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Population grew in just 24 California counties: What does it mean? - Next City Digest","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5956","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Population grew in just 24 California counties: What does it mean? - Next City Digest","og_description":"Population flows suggest people were drawn to areas where more housing was being created, much of it far from the coast.","og_url":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5956","og_site_name":"Next City Digest","article_published_time":"2026-07-31T19:41:18+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5956#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5956"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b"},"headline":"Population grew in just 24 California counties: What does it mean?","datePublished":"2026-07-31T19:41:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5956"},"wordCount":683,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5956#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6c1bdb808f6a72de1682b66a74f4fc83.webp","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5956#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5956","url":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5956","name":"Population grew in just 24 California counties: What does it mean? - Next City Digest","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5956#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5956#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6c1bdb808f6a72de1682b66a74f4fc83.webp","datePublished":"2026-07-31T19:41:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5956#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5956"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5956#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6c1bdb808f6a72de1682b66a74f4fc83.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6c1bdb808f6a72de1682b66a74f4fc83.webp","width":2000,"height":1125},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5956#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Population grew in just 24 California counties: What does it mean?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/","name":"Next City Digest","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/nextcitydigest.com"],"url":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}