Do you want to live in an area that is the most expensive in the nation? Feces on the streets, homeless everywhere, crime no longer reported? Want high taxes, even higher gas and energy costs? Want the worst traffic in the nation? If so, the Bay Area is for you—or as Greg Gutfeld once said, “the bidet by the Bay”.
“However, population recovery wasn’t universal across the state. While some cities like Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacramento saw population totals slowly recover last years, with announced gains of 0.4%, 1%, and 0.3% respectively, population losses continued to decline in the Bay Area. San Francisco, which saw a peak in population in the late 2010’s of around 880,000 thanks to the tech boom in the area, saw a drastic decrease in the 2020’s thanks to a sky-high cost of living, mass tech layoffs, and a worsening crime and drug situation in the city. At the 2020 Census, the population was at 873,000. By 2023, it had plummeted to below 850,000. According to the new state figures, San Francisco continued to lose residents last year, going down by .4% to 842,000.
San Jose, another Silicon Valley tech hub, also lost population last year. While San Jose managed to get just over 1 million residents by the time the Pandemic struck, it rapidly lost residents in the 2020’s because of tech layoffs, the pandemic, and housing costs. The Department of Finance figures show that San Jose lost 0.1% last year, going down to below 980,000 residents.”
As tech continues to move out of California, at least the traffic will get better.
New Population Figures Show Bay Area Cities Continue to Lose Residents Despite Touted State Gains
California likely to see population losses this year thanks to new federal illegal immigration efforts
By Evan Symon, California Globe, 5/5/25 https://californiaglobe.com/fr/new-population-figures-show-bay-area-cities-continue-to-lose-residents-despite-touted-state-gains/
According to new figures released by the California Department of Finance, several Bay Area cities, including San Francisco and San Jose, continued to see population losses in 2024, despite other recently struggling cities gaining back residents in the same time span.
Yearly statewide population totals are often skewed with previous population gain totals through “net internal migration” often being contrasted with lost domestic population. As the Globe previously reported, California lost domestic population in 2023 and 2024 despite the state touting gains at the same time. However, while state population totals can be a bit iffy, with U.S. Census totals being far more accurate with cut and dry total population changes, city population changes are easier to tack on the state level.
The California Department of Finance recently released new population totals this month with the state growing by 108,000 residents. In total, California climbed back up to around 39.5 million residents. While the figures haven’t been confirmed by the Census Bureau, it appears that California is back near pre-Pandemic population levels.
“People from across the nation and the globe are coming to the Golden State to pursue the California Dream, where rights are protected and people are respected,” said Governor Gavin Newsom of the new figures. “As the fourth largest economy in the world — from the Inland Empire to the Bay Area — regions throughout California are growing, strengthening local communities and boosting our state’s future. We’ll continue to cut tape, invest in people, and seek real results from government to ensure we build on this momentum – all of which are at risk with the extreme and uncertain tariffs.”
Population losses in San Francisco, San Jose
However, population recovery wasn’t universal across the state. While some cities like Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacramento saw population totals slowly recover last years, with announced gains of 0.4%, 1%, and 0.3% respectively, population losses continued to decline in the Bay Area. San Francisco, which saw a peak in population in the late 2010’s of around 880,000 thanks to the tech boom in the area, saw a drastic decrease in the 2020’s thanks to a sky-high cost of living, mass tech layoffs, and a worsening crime and drug situation in the city. At the 2020 Census, the population was at 873,000. By 2023, it had plummeted to below 850,000. According to the new state figures, San Francisco continued to lose residents last year, going down by .4% to 842,000.
San Jose, another Silicon Valley tech hub, also lost population last year. While San Jose managed to get just over 1 million residents by the time the Pandemic struck, it rapidly lost residents in the 2020’s because of tech layoffs, the pandemic, and housing costs. The Department of Finance figures show that San Jose lost 0.1% last year, going down to below 980,000 residents.
It should be noted that the Department of Finance figures are somewhat different from more Conservative federal figures. For example, the Census Bureau marked San Jose as having below 970,000 residents last year, while San Francisco sat at only 827,000. Even with the wide discrepancies, population counting bureaus all had the same broad conclusion: the Bay area’s population is continuing to go down, with cities like San Francisco facing the brunt of it. In the official press release by the Governor, he even went out of his way to not mention any city population loss data and only briefly mentioned one County, Contra Costa County, as having lost population last year.
Next year, population totals are likely to be radically different once again. The drastic decrease of illegal immigrants crossing the border and the increase of illegal immigrant deportations is likely to decrease the population once again. As an estimated 1.8 million illegal immigrants currently live in California, the state is likely to see stagnation of growth at the very least, if not outright declines.
