Overall, SoCal’s Population Is Shrinking

Los Angeles is the most populated US metro outside of New York, and while the greater L.A. area, including Orange County, is seeing inward migration from other major cities, people are also leaving the market. Overall, the population in Los Angeles-Orange County is down, with Los Angeles accounting for most of the losses. Currently, population in Los Angeles-Orange County is down .05%. In L.A., it is down .13%, while Orange County saw a gain of .19%, according to research from JLL.

“California as a state is experiencing slow growth at 0.4% but it is important to keep in mind that the LA-OC market is one of the most populated metros in the nation,” Paulina Torres, research analyst, at JLL, tells GlobeSt.com. “It wasn’t until 2004 that the LA-OC market experienced its first decrease in population. Since then, annual population growth has averaged to 0.3% for the market.

There are a few dynamics at play here. One is the high cost of living in the area, and another is lower fertility rates, which keeps population growth down. As the lack of affordable housing continues and the overall profile of migrants into the state establishes itself as highly educated, which directly correlates with lower fertility) we can expect this slow growth to continue,” says Torres.