California's Population Jumps Back to Near Pre-Pandemic Levels (dailynews.com) 61
"California's population grew this year by nearly a quarter of a million residents," reports the Los Angeles Daily News, "closing in on record-high population levels the Golden State reached before the pandemic, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday."
Although "Data showed the state is growing more slowly than the country as a whole and other large states in the South..." The Census Bureau's Vintage 2024 population estimates show California's population on July 1, 2024 was 39,431,000, an increase of 233,000 from the year before, and just 125,000 short of the 2020 high point.
For Jeff Bellisario, executive director of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, there are two ways to look at the new data. "There's the optimistic look that in the past year, we have seen the population increase... bigger increases than we have in a decade, so I do think there is some truth to the narrative of folks coming back to California," he said. On the other hand, California is still far behind the population gains made in states like Florida and Texas. "We are still trying to claw back to where we were pre-pandemic," Bellisario said. "It's going to take us a few more years to get to solid population growth numbers." California had the third most new residents, with the population growing by about 0.59%. Florida and Texas saw more new residents, and top the list of states with the largest increases by raw numbers...
Overall, the population of the entire country grew by about 0.9%, slightly outpacing California's growth.
A graph accompanying the article shows California's population increasing steadily until the pandemic — which produced a sudden drop that the article seems to attribute to pandemic restrictions (including restrictions on entering the country). And then this year there was a sudden spike back to nearly where it was before the pandemic.
Although "Data showed the state is growing more slowly than the country as a whole and other large states in the South..." The Census Bureau's Vintage 2024 population estimates show California's population on July 1, 2024 was 39,431,000, an increase of 233,000 from the year before, and just 125,000 short of the 2020 high point.
For Jeff Bellisario, executive director of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, there are two ways to look at the new data. "There's the optimistic look that in the past year, we have seen the population increase... bigger increases than we have in a decade, so I do think there is some truth to the narrative of folks coming back to California," he said. On the other hand, California is still far behind the population gains made in states like Florida and Texas. "We are still trying to claw back to where we were pre-pandemic," Bellisario said. "It's going to take us a few more years to get to solid population growth numbers." California had the third most new residents, with the population growing by about 0.59%. Florida and Texas saw more new residents, and top the list of states with the largest increases by raw numbers...
Overall, the population of the entire country grew by about 0.9%, slightly outpacing California's growth.
A graph accompanying the article shows California's population increasing steadily until the pandemic — which produced a sudden drop that the article seems to attribute to pandemic restrictions (including restrictions on entering the country). And then this year there was a sudden spike back to nearly where it was before the pandemic.
That's unpossible (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
That's why the population actually increasing is news.
It's probably a mix of California still being a target for immigrants, and some probably found their new state even more hellish in its own unique ways to their sensibilities.
Re:"CA is scary WokeLand" (Score:4, Insightful)
We Californians merely tell the rest of the country that so they don't move here and make traffic worse. It worked for a few years.
Re: That's unpossible (Score:2)
Yeah didn't we already decide everything California bad? How can this be? This is as horrific as DST!!!
Re:That's unpossible (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: That's unpossible (Score:1)
Your usage of the apostrophe is perplexing.
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To be fair, I'd censor systemd too!
Re: (Score:1)
Your usage of the apostrophe is perplexing.
I apologize, I did not mean to make your pedantic eye twitch. I was just using it to express that I was making up a slang word. In retrospect the use of a trailing ' would have been better.
I guess all you red states (Score:3)
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> free drugs
Yeah... no. That's not how drug dealers work. The first dose may sometimes be free, though that's mostly more of a television and DARE cliche than reality. And they may lower their own costs by cutting their stuff with fentanyl these days. But they definitely expect to be paid.
Re:That's unpossible (Score:4, Informative)
Cali may be a hellscape for those leaving, but there are a lot of immigrants willing to go there. Biden had two H-1B lotteries this year, which means 200,000 people with free passes to the US, each of them replacing an American at their jobs.
And these H-1Bs all went to California? Evidence please.
Americans can't afford to work in California, but there are plenty of bonuses and government grants if one is foreign born, especially to get property, a driver's license, and even vote [ballotpedia.org] in elections.
If one bothers to examine the link you provided, one will learn that in three states (California, Vermont, and Maryland) "[c]ertain jurisdictions allow noncitizens to vote in local elections." Local elections.
As for the bonuses and government grants for the foreign-born ... again, evidence please.
There are a lot of people heading to California and Oregon because... free drugs, free living quarters,
I'm an immigrant living in California, and that's all news to me. Be nice if it were true. [Drugs of the legal kind, of course.]
Do you mean free living quarters for the homeless? California has lots of homeless people, but it's not the only state with shelters.
and stuff like assaults and robberies are charges that get citations.
In California, robbery is considered a "violent felony" and is punishable by 2 to 9 years imprisonment. Assault can be punished with a $2000 fine up to a year or longer in prison, much longer if the judge sees it as warranted (e.g., if you have a prior record.) I don't know where you got the idea you just get a citation for either offense.
People that work or make a living wind up having to head elsewhere, as they can't afford the taxes and fees to support the lifestyle of the indigents and insurgents.
I'm not wealthy and I think I live well in California. I'm not sure what "people" you mean.
Re: (Score:3)
It's not the full 200K, but a bit over 50%.
"in fiscal 2024 102,812 LCA submitted for H1B Visa are California."
Source: https://www.myvisajobs.com/rep... [myvisajobs.com]
Re: (Score:2)
> Roving bands of blue haired women's studies
> professors
Don't forget immigrants, LGBT people, non Musk-worshipping tech workers, women who don't fancy being handmaids, all those aspiring Hollywood leftists waiting tables in LA until they get their big break, and the jews who control the space lasers. The golden state is attracting a veritable cornucopia of undesirables.
An actual concern (Score:3, Insightful)
The House of Representatives is based on population, and there are likely a lot of people here, that Donald Trump hates.
This is an actual concern for republicans in general.
House representatives are allocated based on population, and not specifically citizens. There are about 2 million non-citizens in California (out of 39 million), and about 12 million non-citizens in the US generally.
The extra population gives California more House representatives in congress.
This is believed to be the driving force behind the sanctuary state/illegal immigrant controversy in the country today. If blue-leaning states allow unrestricted infl
Re:An actual concern (Score:5, Insightful)
House representatives are allocated based on population, and not specifically citizens. There are about 2 million non-citizens in California (out of 39 million), and about 12 million non-citizens in the US generally.
The extra population gives California more House representatives in congress.
These non-citizens cannot vote. But they do pay taxes. IMHO they deserve representation even if they can't participate in the process that selects their representatives. And BTW, I'm one of them (green card.)
This is believed to be the driving force behind the sanctuary state/illegal immigrant controversy in the country today.
I see what you did there. If you're a non-citizen, you must be here illegally, right? Wrong. About 12.7 million non-citizens are green-card holders. And that doesn't count other non-citizens with legitimate work-permits such as H1-B, J-1, F-1, Trade NAFTA, and so on.
Re:An actual concern (Score:4, Insightful)
A green card holder is on the citizenship-track. You’re a citizen-in-training. We keep green card holders in a 5 year holding pattern while society evaluates their suitability for joining the country. That’s why you pay taxes but don’t get to vote.
Before people get triggered - allow me to state that I support immigration, and I generally hold immigrants in very high respect. We need more of them. Immigrants make us a straight-up stronger country. But there are damn good reasons why there’s an assessment period.
Some societal privileges are reserved for citizens - and it really does make sense that voting would be one of those.
Re: (Score:3)
Everyone has this thing about “taxation without representation”. But those two things aren’t really linked in any meaningful way.
Really? My understanding is that it led to the American Revolution. They seem linked to me.
10s of millions of people pay zero taxes but can vote. The link is between voting and citizenship. Taxes has nothing to do with it.
No argument there, except that (citizen-)voters need to be at or above a certain age, and in some jurisdictions, not be felons serving a sentence.
A green card holder is on the citizenship-track. You’re a citizen-in-training. We keep green card holders in a 5 year holding pattern while society evaluates their suitability for joining the country. That’s why you pay taxes but don’t get to vote.
After 5 years as a green-card holder, you can become a citizen. (3 years if you're a spouse of a US citizen.) But you're not obliged to become a citizen. I have known people who worked their professional lives, retired, and passed away as green-card holders. Green cards are
Re: An actual concern (Score:2)
Really? My understanding is that it led to the American Revolution. They seem linked to me.
You'd be better served by reading the 27 grievances against the king listed in the declaration of independence. Particularly relevant here is the 7th grievance. The one you're talking about is the 17th grievance.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik... [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:2)
Thanks for the improvement. Taxation was just one of the factors that led to the Revolution. I was thinking of the Boston Tea Party (which pertained to the 17th grievance) as a major tipping-point.
Anyway, I stand by my point: taxation and representation have been perceived as linked, historically.
Re: (Score:3)
Only the illegal aliens who use stolen identities to obtain social security numbers have taxes deducted.
All of the others are paid under the table with zero government withholdings.
Do you have evidence to back this up, or is that just your speculation?
The Center for Immigration Studies estimates we have 51.4 million illegal aliens living in the United States.
Yeah well ... consider the source. [wikipedia.org] Other organizations (such as this [americanim...ouncil.org] and this [pewresearch.org]) put the number far lower, at about 11 or 12 million.
There are new euphemisms for illegal aliens created every day. This is the population we are talking about when casually saying non-citizens.
I. Beg. Your. Pardon. Just because someone is a non-citizen doesn't mean they're here illegally. Ever heard of green cards and work-permits?
Few people except for the immigration hardliners are courageous enough to call them by their legal designation -- illegal aliens. Scolding people for calling illegals illegal has been an intentional campaign to change the fabric of America.
It's more a recognition that these people want to contribute to American society despite lacking legal documentation. Would you call people who speed on the highway "ill
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Only the illegal aliens who use stolen identities to obtain social security numbers have taxes deducted.
All of the others are paid under the table with zero government withholdings.
Do you have evidence to back this up, or is that just your speculation?
Totally not true [ilrc.org]. I mean, yes, if they are working for an employer, they are presumably paid under the table, because they don't have the proper documentation to fill out a W-9, but that doesn't mean that none of them report their earnings and pay taxes. Paying taxes regularly can count in your favor if you get caught and are about to be deported, for one thing, so some of them do.
In 2022, undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in taxes in 2022 ($59.4 billion of which was in the form of federal taxes
Re: (Score:2)
No, green card holders should not have the right to vote or receive any representation. A green card is a residency permit, similar to a student visa, allowing people to live and work in the U.S. as long as it remains valid. It can be revoked or expire, and obtaining citizenship is never guaranteed. Having gone through the green card to citizenship process myself, a process that took a decade, I know the system well. During that time, I knew I was essentially on probation to become a citizen. Non-citizens b
Maybe not (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
> If blue-leaning states allow unrestricted influx of
> people (and red states don't), then they get an
> outsized level of influence in the legislature.
>
> The US population is getting fed up with these sorts
> of tactics.
Peachy. So how about this: The blue states stop counting these non-citizens you claim give us "an outsize level of influence" once you agree to (and do) fix the structural flaws in the government (Eliminate the electoral college, fix the representation in the senate, and b
RTO policies (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Copium is hilarious.
Hispanic (Score:5, Insightful)
According to the XLS on the linked census.gov website, "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population by Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin for California", the number of non-Hispanics has still been decreasing (in raw numbers - not just as a percentage of the population), while the number of Hispanics has increased.
The individuals purportedly fleeing California around the time of COVID were primarily non-Hispanic. Thus this strongly suggests that the population increase was not due to professionals moving back to CA that left for states like Texas.
Re: Hispanic (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
I am definitely generalizing, and making the assumption that most of the influx of Hispanic immigrants are not white-collar, which is probably true on average. Did you immigrate to California directly two decades ago? Did you obtain your education in the US or abroad before you immigrated? Or are you a natural citizen? I'm just curious in the context of Hispanic immigration (IE the state of immigrants at the time of migration), because the topic is regarding replacing the population that left California. Th
Re: Hispanic (Score:4, Interesting)
Wait, Hispanics can't be professionals? (Score:2)
The number of Caucasians is lower than Hispanics and blacks because they have more money and more access to birth control. Poor people tend to have more kids. This has been a demographic trend in America since the 90s. Normal folk look at it and shrug. People who watch a little too much Tucker Carlson call it a Replacement. A Great one...
Border crisis (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Border crisis (Score:4, Informative)
The US Constitution mandates counting everyone, not just citizens, and the SCOTUS has upheld that.
Re: (Score:2)
Addendum: this is in regard to the 10 year Federal census. Any other counts are managed by states or private orgs.
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I'm not claiming it was necessarily done for good intentions.
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Thing is, California counts all residents in its census and not just legal ones.
As does Texas. And Florida. And Alaska.
All the states do it because it's the (federal) law.
In other news: Illegal Migrants mass in California (Score:4, Informative)
Lets see: an estimated 2 million people illegally crossed the border last year, California is the largest sanctuary state, and it has a long border with Mexico.
Who wants to take the bet a bunch of that population increase is illegals?
Re:In other news: Illegal Migrants mass in Califor (Score:4, Interesting)
It could be argued that this particular population growth is bad. I think it's fair to state:
The majority of the individuals that left California earned middle-class wages or better, on which they were directly taxed by California.
That same majority was highly educated and experienced, and added indirect value to California as a pool of workers that helped make the state appealing for tech industry. Big tech companies justify their location in California due to the skilled workforce availability.
The majority of immigrants are not highly educated or skilled to the same degree as the individuals that left. In fact, it is likely some significant number of the immigrants will actually cost California money. That seems like the exact opposite of what California would want. Well, except the fact that raw numbers of bodies in the state help give them political clout at the federal level.
Re: (Score:1)
It could be argued that this particular population growth is bad. I think it's fair to state:
The majority of the individuals that left California earned middle-class wages or better, on which they were directly taxed by California.
That same majority was highly educated and experienced, and added indirect value to California as a pool of workers that helped make the state appealing for tech industry. Big tech companies justify their location in California due to the skilled workforce availability.
The majority of immigrants are not highly educated or skilled to the same degree as the individuals that left. In fact, it is likely some significant number of the immigrants will actually cost California money. That seems like the exact opposite of what California would want. Well, except the fact that raw numbers of bodies in the state help give them political clout at the federal level.
But ... but ... that makes the gloating unsatisfying!
Yeah taking in millions of illegals will do that. (Score:1, Insightful)
Since congressional seats are apportioned by population without regard for citizenship status, there's every incentive in the world to invite the world in...provided you don't give a fuck about having to spend a billion a year (Massachusetts) housing them, schooling their children, giving them free healthcare...
You can have open borders or you can have a welfare state. Not both at once.
Bernie Sanders might have been caught saying something along those lines not too long ago.
The fallacy that everything must GROW! (Score:4, Insightful)
Populations.
Government.
Administration.
Consumption.
Yet oddly, our planet is not growing in size and usable land area is shrinking - think about that.
LEGAL or ILLEGAL (Score:1)
Of course it did! (Score:2, Funny)
Musk and Trump rightly deserve to die in prison, by the way, and all the oligarchs and fascist pigs that support them likewise deserve to be executed.
..and now the fascist pigs of Slashdot will bandy about catch-phrases like 'Trump dysmorphic syndrome' and other bullshit intended to devalue actual patriots who value our representative democracy and who fight against the rise of authoritarianism in these United States
Those of us who voted for Harris/Walz will be pointing and laughing at you imbeciles w
But are they tax payers? (Score:2)
This is a serious question. Are the newcomers working jobs that raise them above the poverty limits and are therefore contributing more to the system then they are taking?
We've lost a lot of hire earners over the past 4 years. Many of our jobs lost were "good" jobs and most of the added jobs have been on the service sector such as retail, food service and hospitality. Not exactly well paying jobs.