California's population keeps declining, US census data shows

California's population falls for 2nd straight year

California’s population declined again in 2021 for the second consecutive year, state officials said Monday, the result of a slowdown in births and immigration coupled with an increase in deaths and people leaving the state.

LOS ANGELES - While many parts of the United States are under severe weather alerts due to a powerful winter storm that is disrupting Christmas travel and bringing plunging temperatures, those in California got quite the opposite as many parts of the Golden State enjoyed sunny skies and a warm forecast for the holiday.

But the nation's most populous state continues to shrink, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Latest figures released last week showed California’s resident population at 39,029,342 in July 2022, a decline of more than 113,000 since July 2021 and down more than a half-million people since July 2020. New York also experienced a significant decline.

Nationwide, the U.S. population increased by 0.4%, or 1,256,003, to 333,287,557 in 2022, the Census Bureau said.

"There was a sizeable uptick in population growth last year compared to the prior year’s historically low increase," Kristie Wilder, a demographer with the Census Bureau, said in a statement. "A rebound in net international migration, coupled with the largest year-over-year increase in total births since 2007, is behind this increase."

Among the country's largest states, Texas and Florida continue to see the most significant growth, data showed.

Increasing by 470,708 people since July 2021, Texas was the largest-gaining state in the nation, reaching a total population of 30,029,572.

Texas now joins only one other state- California - as the only states with a population of above 30 million residents.

The South, the most populous region with a resident population of 128,716,192, was the fastest-growing and the largest-gaining region last year, increasing by 1.1%, or 1,370,163.

These were the top 5 most populous states of 2022: