According to recent data from the US Census Bureau, the population of California has increased compared to last year, mainly due to the influx of international immigrants that has offset the population loss caused by Californians moving out of state. International immigration has been a major factor in the overall population growth in the United States.
The latest population statistics released by the US Census Bureau on December 19 show that California’s population exceeded 39.43 million in 2024, an increase of about 0.6% compared to 2023. However, the population is still about 124,000 people less than the count in April 2020, which represents a decrease of 0.3%.
The data reveals that more people have been moving out of California to other states than those moving into California from other states. Domestic migration has been resulting in a loss of residents for California, as in recent years, more Californians have been moving to other states than the number moving into California.
In the past few years, the number of people moving out of California to other states has consistently exceeded the number of people moving into California from other states. This outflow of population and influx of fewer residents, known as “domestic migration,” has been a trend that has contributed to California’s continuous population loss in recent years.
From July 2023 to July 2024, California experienced a net loss of around 240,000 people due to “domestic migration”.
During the same period, California attracted over 360,000 international immigrants, which helped offset the population loss resulting from more people moving out of the state to other states, resulting in a net immigration of over 120,000 people for California.
At the same time, within the same timeframe, the number of births in California exceeded the number of deaths, adding over 110,000 people to the state’s population. Therefore, based on Census Bureau data as of July 2024, international immigrants and newborns collectively have contributed to an increase of over 230,000 people in California compared to the previous year.
Over the past four years, 1.5 million people have left California, while nearly one million international immigrants have moved into the state.
In the last four years from April 2020 to July 2024, almost 1.5 million people have moved from California to other states.
During the same period, international immigrants brought in over 930,000 people to California. The natural increase of births over deaths contributed approximately 420,000 people to California’s population. However, the combined growth of these two categories of the population was not sufficient to offset the losses from population outflow during this period.
Nationally, the US population has grown by about 1% in the past year, estimated to exceed 340 million by July 2024.
Regarding this growth, the US Census Bureau stated in a release, “This is the fastest annual growth rate of the US population since 2001, showing significant growth compared to the historic low growth rate of 0.2% in 2021.”
The Census Bureau reported that between 2023 and 2024, the US population increased by 3.3 million, with 84% of the growth (2.8 million people) coming from international immigrants.
The report stated, “This reflects a continuous upward trend in international immigration.”
The Census Bureau noted that international immigration has increased in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, contributing to population growth across the states.
The statistics from the Census Bureau are based on resident population counts and do not differentiate based on immigration status.
For the states with the largest populations, the states with the highest populations also saw the greatest increases in international immigrants. Among the top four most populous states in the US, the quantity of international immigrants increased the most from 2023 to 2024. Florida saw an increase of over 410,000 international immigrants, California over 360,000, Texas nearly 320,000, and New York nearly 210,000.
Among these four states, New York and California saw more people moving out to other states than moving in. Since April 2020, New York experienced a net loss of nearly 970,000 people moving to other states.
On the other hand, Florida and Texas experienced the opposite trend, with more people moving in from within the state than moving out, leading to a continuous increase in the number of people relocating within the state. Since April 2020, Florida has seen a net influx of more than 870,000 people, and Texas has had a net influx of nearly 750,000 people during the same period.
The four most populous states in the US are California with over 39.43 million people, Texas with over 31.29 million people, Florida with over 23.37 million people, and New York with close to 19.87 million people.