The Golden State's population grew nearly 1 percent during the past year — the highest annual rate in nearly a decade.
According to a new report from the state Department of Finance, we now number 38.2 million people, an increase of 332,000 from July 2012 to July 2013. This is the biggest gain for California since 2003-2004, before the recession. While most of the gain is due to a "natural increase" of more births than deaths, demographic experts say the state also saw increased migration to the recovering labor market.
This is particularly true of the Bay Area. As the Mercury News noted:
The Bay Area is the only region in California where more people are moving in from elsewhere in the United States than moving out, another sign of the tech industry's rebound and the creation of more jobs here. ...
Alameda and Contra Costa counties led the region in "domestic migration," the report says, adding some 5,142 and 3,671 people, respectively.
Alameda County, in fact, had the highest growth rate in the state. The county grew by nearly 26,000 people to a total of roughly 1.6 million residents — a growth rate of 1.7 percent compared to a statewide rate of 0.9 percent.
Statewide, 103,000 more people left California than came here during the July 2012-July 2013 period — a decline that has continued since 2001. But in the Bay Area, 4,800 more people moved in than left, with Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa and Santa Cruz counties picking up the biggest gains. Santa Clara and San Francisco counties, where most of the area jobs are, saw 3,522 and 1,824, respectively, move away. Just over 1,900 people left San Mateo County.