California Looks Into the Future — and Sees Fewer Californians

More than a century of long-term population growth in California could be over, according to new projections that show the state will have about the same number of people in 2060 as it does now.

The forecast released this week from the California Department of Finance is sobering news for the country’s most populous state, which saw its first-ever population decline in 2020 amid an exodus driven by the pandemic and high housing costs. Lower birth rates and aging baby boomers will add to the demographic drag over the coming decades.