For the third consecutive year, California’s population has increased, though the Golden State has still not reached its pre-pandemic population high.
The state’s population grew by about 19,200 people, marking a 0.05% increase from July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2025, according to data released Friday by the California Department of Finance. The previous year’s growth was slightly larger but still paltry at 0.58%.
But that doesn’t mean people weren’t continuing to leave the state.
In fact, the state would have experienced a population loss if not for new births and international arrivals offsetting those departures. Between 2024 and 2025 more Californians moved out of the state than people from other states moved in — a deficit of approximately 216,000 residents. Between 2023 and 2024, that number was 140,000.
The report pointed to the Trump administration’s termination of most humanitarian migration programs as a factor in slowing California’s population growth.
“In 2025, most of the humanitarian migration programs were terminated,” the Department of Finance wrote. “As a result, net international migration for 2024-25 declined to … approximately half of the 2023-24 level.”
California’s population growing seemed to be a permanent feature until the pandemic, when the California exodus became the state’s first years of population decline, ever. Now, the outlook for the state’s future is mixed, experts say.
“With change in policy for international humanitarian migration and deaths returning to long-term trends, California is likely to experience slower growth over the coming several years,” the report said.
Los Angeles County saw its population decline slightly, with a net loss of 28,000 people. The county’s population had inched upward from 2023 to 2024 — the first gains since the pandemic — but saw that trend reversed this past year.
“The decrease is driven by higher domestic migration due to impacts of wildfires, especially the Palisades and Eaton fires, and a significant decrease in net international migration,” the Department of Finance wrote.
The report did not state if the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement campaign in Los Angeles over the summer had an impact on the county’s numbers.
As in past years, the state’s biggest population growth was found in the Central Valley and the Sacramento exurbs. The biggest percentage declines were in the northernmost counties and the Sierra foothills.
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