Downtown Oakland, April 2023.
The Bay Area and California suffered a population decline in 2022, according to a disquieting new government report that hints at an ongoing exodus of residents from the nation’s largest state.
The population decline engulfed all four of California’s largest cities and seven of the state’s 10 largest cities, which shows that the dwindling trend of residents isn’t merely some isolated cases, but extends to all of the state’s major population centers, the state Finance Department reported in its new release.
The Bay Area lost just a shade under 34,000 residents in 2022, this news organization’s review of the state agency’s report shows. The Bay Area now has approximately 7.55 million residents. The nine-county region’s population shrank by 0.4%.
San Jose lost nearly 4,500 residents and now has a population of 959,300, the state agency estimated. That puts the Bay Area’s largest city on a trajectory to no longer be the nation’s 10th-largest municipality. That top 10 placement might go to Austin, Texas, which, according to the World Population Review website, now has about 966,300 residents.
San Francisco suffered the largest population loss among the region’s cities, losing more than 5,300 residents for a decline of 0.6%
Oakland lost 2,250 residents, a drop of 0.5%, the Finance Department report stated.
San Francisco skyline, May 2023.
Los Angeles lost 36,600 residents, a 1% decline, while San Diego suffered a drop of 4,400 people, down 0.3%.
All nine of the Bay Area’s counties lost population in 2022. The largest numerical decline was in Alameda County, which shed nearly 8,100 residents.
California lost 138,400 residents and now has a population of 38.94 million, for a decline of 0.4%