These California cities are shrinking fastest, new Census data shows

(NEXSTAR) – California was one of eight states that saw its population shrink last year, according to new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The shrinkage was small, granted, with only a 0.2% drop in population between July 2022 and July 2023. But some of the largest cities and towns in the Golden State saw more dramatic drops. Anaheim and Long Beach, for example, both lost nearly 1% of their populations in a single year.

Chula Vista, San Jose and Stockton also saw populations drop, between 0.2% and 0.4%.

The Census data didn’t specify exactly where folks leaving those California cities were heading, but they could be moving to smaller California towns, more affordable parts of the state, or out of state. Texas is the No. 1 out-of-state target for people leaving California, but that trend has been diminishing in the past couple years.

Meanwhile, several of California’s larger cities were found to be growing last year. Bakersfield, Fresno, Irvine, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco all saw moderate gains.

Nationwide, the fastest-growing communities are found in the Sun Belt, and in the outskirts of larger metro areas.

California wasn’t the fastest-shrinking state in the nation. According to the Census, that title goes to New York, which lost 0.5% of its population in just one year. Almost every large city in New York saw a population drop in 2023, but the effect was most dramatic in New York City, which lost an estimated 78,000 residents.

Three large Southern California cities – Los Angeles, Riverside and Santa Ana – had population changes so small they essentially amounted to zero.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.