LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Over the past year, California has seen a growth in its number of residents while Lake County’s population has shown a minor decline that puts it at a 13-year low.
The California Department of Finance’s latest population report, released this month, contains preliminary year over year January 2020 and revised January 2019 population data for California cities, counties and the state.
The agency said the estimates are based on information through Jan. 1 and do not include adjustments for potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report said California added 87,494 residents to bring the state’s estimated total population to 39,782,870 people as of Jan. 1.
California’s population grew by only 0.2 percent, continuing a historically slow growth trend
since the Great Recession, the report said.
Lake County’s population dropped by 0.4 percent over the past year, going from 64,268 residents in January 2019 to the January 2020 estimate of 64,040.
The 64,040 residents reported in January is the lowest population estimate recorded for Lake County since 2007. The county’s highest population in that time was 65,131 in 2014.
The city of Clearlake had the largest overall reduction in the past year, -0.5 percent, from 14,363 to 14,297, followed by the city of Lakeport, -0.4, 4,698 to 4,677. For the balance of the county, the reduction was -0.3, dropping from 45,207 to 45,066.
Lake is among the rural counties impacted by wildfires that experienced population loss, according to the report.
Neighboring counties showed the following numbers:
– Colusa: -0.4, year-over change, 21,990 to 21,902.
– Glenn: 2.5, year-over change, 28,695 to 29,400.
– Mendocino: -0.5, year-over change, 88,388 to 87,946.
– Napa: -0.6, year-over change, 139,970 to 139,088.
– Sonoma: -0.8, year-over change, 496,947 to 492,980.
– Yolo: 0.4, year-over change, 220,896 to 221,705.
Over the past year, 256 cities gained population, 225 lost population and one had no change, the report said.
The report shows that growth has remained strong over the past year in the Central Valley’s interior counties and the Inland Empire. At the same time, growth has continued but remained modest in the Bay Area, and slowing to near zero and even negative in most of the coastal counties.
The report showed that seven counties had growth rates over 1.0 percent: Glenn, 2.5 percent; Yuba, 2 percent; Placer, 2 percent; El Dorado, 1.7 percent; San Benito, 1.4 percent, which was the notable Bay Area exception gaining over 1 percent due to increased housing construction; San Joaquin, 1.1 percent; and Kern, 1 percent.
California's statewide housing growth, as measured by net unit growth in completed housing
units for 2019, was 94,662 units making 2019 the first time the state has added more housing units than people. Total housing in California reached 14,329,863 units, a 0.7 -percent increase, according to the report.
Of the 14,329,863 housing units in California, the report said 9,228,303 are single-family and 4,540,850 are multi-family with 560,817 mobile homes. Multi-family housing growth outpaced single-family housing by almost 8,695 net units – meaning, new construction minus demolition – continuing an eight-year trend.
The California Department of Finance produces the population estimates annually as part of calculating its annual appropriations limit.
The State Controller’s Office uses the Department of Finance's estimates to update its population figures for distribution of state subventions to cities and counties, and to comply with various state codes.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.