California’s population growth has hit record lows over 25 years, driven by a housing crisis. State efforts, including new legislation and a $10 billion housing bond

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California had its slowest rate of population growth ever recorded over a two-and-a-half-decade period, according to a new report.

According to the Public Policy Institute of California, the Golden State has been losing residents to other states for almost 25 years.

From 2010 to 2024, almost 10 million residents moved out of California to other parts of the country, while just over 7 million were coming in from other parts of the country. 

Though California’s overall population continues to climb. According to a separate PPIC report, California’s population grew by 5.8% from 2010 to 2020, according to decennial census counts. This was slower than the national growth rate of 6.8%.

Despite the 25-year slowdown, California remains the most populous state, with millions more than the next-closest state, Texas, and is expected to grow to 40.5 million by 2040. The state only experienced a population decrease during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the governor’s office.

The PPIC cites housing as the primary reason people are leaving California, an issue that has dominated the state capitol’s focus.

Last year. Governor Gavin Newsom signed two bills into law that implemented a number of reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act designed to roll back regulations to speed up housing production.

“The most consequential housing reform that we’ve seen in modern history in the state of California,” Newsom said when he signed the pieces of legislation in June of last year.

Housing and addressing the high cost of living are slated to be key focuses in the legislature this year. 

At his State of the State address earlier this year, Newsom described housing costs as “California’s original sin,” and said the state must continue clearing regulatory barriers, pushing local governments to build and modernizing environmental review. This year, he said, the focus includes reducing construction costs and preventing institutional investors from dominating the housing market.

Legislators have also advanced a $10 billion housing bond that would be distributed to around 40,000 affordable housing projects across the state, according to supporters.

The issues of housing and affordability are bipartisan; Republicans point to Democratic policies for exacerbating the crisis.

At the start of the year, Assembly Minority Leader Heath Flora told ABC10 in a statement, “We aim to ease Californians’ cost-of-living burdens by cutting unnecessary costs and addressing the rising costs of energy and insurance. By focusing on affordability and cost-of-living, we will help protect family budgets and keep essential services within reach.”

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