In 2023, the resident population of California was ***** million. This is a slight decrease from the previous year, with ***** million people in 2022. This makes it the most populous state in the U.S. Californian demographics Along with an increase in population, California’s gross domestic product (GDP) has also been increasing, from *** trillion U.S. dollars in 2000 to **** trillion U.S. dollars in 2023. In the same time period, the per-capita personal income has almost doubled, from ****** U.S. dollars in 2000 to ****** U.S. dollars in 2022. In 2023, the majority of California’s resident population was Hispanic or Latino, although the number of white residents followed as a close second, with Asian residents making up the third-largest demographic in the state. The dark side of the Golden State While California is one of the most well-known states in the U.S., is home to Silicon Valley, and one of the states where personal income has been increasing over the past 20 years, not everyone in California is so lucky: In 2023, the poverty rate in California was about ** percent, and the state had the fifth-highest rate of homelessness in the country during that same year, with an estimated ** homeless people per 10,000 of the population.

Graph and download economic data for Resident Population in California (CAPOP) from 1900 to 2024 about residents, CA, population, and USA.

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the state of California from 1900 to 2024.

This dataset provides population estimate trends from 1998 to the current year for each of California’s 58 counties, further disaggregated by Detailed Analysis Units (DAUs) - the smallest geographic units historically used by the California Department of Water Resources for water planning as part of the California Water Plan. DAUs are subdivisions of Planning Areas and often align with county boundaries, although a single DAU may span multiple counties. They have traditionally supported water demand estimates based on crop and land use types.

The population estimates were developed using U.S. Bureau Census 2000, 2010 and 2020 data. Throughout the estimation process, intermediate results were reviewed and adjusted as needed, with professional judgment applied to smooth trends where appropriate.

Since the California Water Plan is retiring DAUs as its planning and analysis framework, future updates to this dataset will transition away from DAU based geography. Instead, population estimates will be provided based on other geographic units, such as the 8-digit Hydrologic Units (HUC8) defined by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Watershed Boundary Dataset.

A dashboard is available for visualizing historical population trends by county and DAU.

Graph and download economic data for Resident Population in Orange County, CA (CAORAN7POP) from 1970 to 2024 about Orange County, CA; Los Angeles; residents; CA; population; and USA.

About this dataset

Context

The dataset tabulates the California population over the last 20 plus years. It lists the population for each year, along with the year on year change in population, as well as the change in percentage terms for each year. The dataset can be utilized to understand the population change of California across the last two decades. For example, using this dataset, we can identify if the population is declining or increasing. If there is a change, when the population peaked, or if it is still growing and has not reached its peak. We can also compare the trend with the overall trend of United States population over the same period of time.

Key observations

In 2024, the population of California was 39.43 million, a 0.59% increase year-by-year from 2023. Previously, in 2023, California population was 39.2 million, an increase of 0.14% compared to a population of 39.14 million in 2022. Over the last 20 plus years, between 2000 and 2024, population of California increased by 5.44 million. In this period, the peak population was 39.52 million in the year 2020. The numbers suggest that the population has already reached its peak and is showing a trend of decline. Source: U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP).

Content

When available, the data consists of estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP).

Data Coverage:

• From 2000 to 2024

Variables / Data Columns

• Year: This column displays the data year (Measured annually and for years 2000 to 2024)
• Population: The population for the specific year for the California is shown in this column.
• Year on Year Change: This column displays the change in California population for each year compared to the previous year.
• Change in Percent: This column displays the year on year change as a percentage. Please note that the sum of all percentages may not equal one due to rounding of values.

Good to know

Margin of Error

Data in the dataset are based on the estimates and are subject to sampling variability and thus a margin of error. Neilsberg Research recommends using caution when presening these estimates in your research.

Custom data

If you do need custom data for any of your research project, report or presentation, you can contact our research staff at research@neilsberg.com for a feasibility of a custom tabulation on a fee-for-service basis.

Inspiration

Neilsberg Research Team curates, analyze and publishes demographics and economic data from a variety of public and proprietary sources, each of which often includes multiple surveys and programs. The large majority of Neilsberg Research aggregated datasets and insights is made available for free download at https://www.neilsberg.com/research/.

Recommended for further research

This dataset is a part of the main dataset for California Population by Year. You can refer the same here

In 2023, the number of Hispanic and Latino residents in California had surpassed the number of White residents, with about ***** million Hispanics compared to ***** million White residents. California’s residents California has always held a special place in the American imagination as a place where people can start a new life and increase their personal fortunes. Perhaps due partly to this, California is the most populous state in the United States, with over ** million residents, which is a significant increase from the number of residents in 1960. California is also the U.S. state with the largest population of foreign born residents. The Californian economy The Californian economy is particularly strong and continually contributes a significant amount to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States. Its per-capita GDP is also high, which indicates a high standard of living for its residents. Additionally, the median household income in California has more than doubled from 1990 levels.

In 2023, about **** percent of the population of California was between the ages of 25 and 34 years old. A further ** percent of the population was between the ages of 35 and 44 years old in that same year.

Graph and download economic data for Resident Population in Lake County, CA (CALAKE3POP) from 1970 to 2024 about Lake County, CA; residents; CA; population; and USA.

The mean servings/times sugar-sweetened beverages consumed daily by California residents. These data are from the 2013 California Dietary Practices Surveys (CDPS), 2012 California Teen Eating, Exercise and Nutrition Survey (CalTEENS), and 2013 California Children’s Healthy Eating and Exercise Practices Survey (CalCHEEPS). These surveys are now discontinued. Adults, adolescents, and children (with parental assistance) were asked about the sugar-sweetened beverages they drank over the previous 24 hour period. Child/Adolescent: Fruit and vegetable, beverage, and junk food consumption, along with physical activity, sedentary time, active transport, sport participation, school environment, home neighborhood environment, fruit and vegetable access and availability, household/family rules, weight status, school breakfast/lunch participation, attitudes, and beliefs. Adult: Fruit and vegetable, beverage, and junk food consumption, along with physical activity, sedentary time, worksite environment, school environment, home neighborhood environment, fruit and vegetable access and availability, household/family rules, weight status and weight loss practices, and food security. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010, sugar-sweetened beverages provide excess calories and few essential nutrients to the diet and should only be consumed when nutrient needs have been met and without exceeding daily calorie limits.

About this dataset

Context

The dataset tabulates the Non-Hispanic population of California by race. It includes the distribution of the Non-Hispanic population of California across various race categories as identified by the Census Bureau. The dataset can be utilized to understand the Non-Hispanic population distribution of California across relevant racial categories.

Key observations

Of the Non-Hispanic population in California, the largest racial group is White alone with a population of 13.57 million (57.48% of the total Non-Hispanic population).

Content

When available, the data consists of estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates.

Racial categories include:

• White
• Black or African American
• American Indian and Alaska Native
• Asian
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
• Some other race
• Two or more races (multiracial)

Variables / Data Columns

• Race: This column displays the racial categories (for Non-Hispanic) for the California
• Population: The population of the racial category (for Non-Hispanic) in the California is shown in this column.
• % of Total Population: This column displays the percentage distribution of each race as a proportion of California total Non-Hispanic population. Please note that the sum of all percentages may not equal one due to rounding of values.

Good to know

Margin of Error

Data in the dataset are based on the estimates and are subject to sampling variability and thus a margin of error. Neilsberg Research recommends using caution when presening these estimates in your research.

Custom data

If you do need custom data for any of your research project, report or presentation, you can contact our research staff at research@neilsberg.com for a feasibility of a custom tabulation on a fee-for-service basis.

Inspiration

Neilsberg Research Team curates, analyze and publishes demographics and economic data from a variety of public and proprietary sources, each of which often includes multiple surveys and programs. The large majority of Neilsberg Research aggregated datasets and insights is made available for free download at https://www.neilsberg.com/research/.

Recommended for further research

This dataset is a part of the main dataset for California Population by Race & Ethnicity. You can refer the same here

Age-Race-Sex population estimates for all California Local Health Jurisdictions and counties. Based on combining California Department of Finance projections with Census estimates to generate County and LHJ City (Berkeley, Long Beach, and Pasadena) data.

Provides population data for calculation of rates, and to describe the demographic distribution of the population, for CDPH, other CalHHS departments, Local Health Jurisdictions, and other users

Graph and download economic data for Resident Population in Nevada County, CA (CANEVA0POP) from 1970 to 2024 about Nevada County, CA; residents; CA; population; and USA.

Resident Population in California was 39431.26300 Thous. of Persons in January of 2024, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Resident Population in California reached a record high of 39521.95800 in January of 2020 and a record low of 1490.00000 in January of 1900. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Resident Population in California - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on August of 2025.

This graph shows the population density in the federal state of California from 1960 to 2018. In 2018, the population density of California stood at 253.9 residents per square mile of land area.

This dataset identifies the number of individually-owned domestic wells, and the number of households relying upon domestic water supply in the state of California. The number of wells and households are summarized for each Public Land Survey System (PLSS) section. The well locations were determined from more than 635,000 scanned well-completion reports (WCRs) provided by the California Department of Water Resources in 2011. This is only a partial sample of the total number of WCRs (estimated at 1 to 2 million in total). The number of domestic wells was estimated based upon a spatially distributed and randomized survey that determined the Township Ratio (TR) for each township in the state (4,692 in total). Each township generally contains 36 sections (6 x 6). The total number of wells within a section was multiplied by the corresponding TR to estimate the number of domestic wells within each section. See the "TRatio" column in the attribute table. Each section within the same township will have the same Township Ratio. The domestic household data are from the 1990 US Census. These data were provided at the census tract level and were subsequently aggregated to PLSS sections that contained a domestic well. In the case where census tract data identified households using domestic supply, but there were no domestic wells within the tract, the household data were distributed evenly to all sections within the tract. In San Luis Obispo County, the scanned WCRs were incomplete. Therefore, a surrogate method was used. The total number of households reported by the 1990 census did not change; only the distribution of where those households existed within the tract changed. A WCR was considered an individually-owned domestic well if the primary use of the well was identified as being domestic, the owner was an individual, and the well was not destroyed as of 1990. See the larger body work (Johnson and Belitz 2015) for more details.

Graph and download economic data for Resident Population in Placer County, CA (CAPLAC0POP) from 1970 to 2024 about Placer County, CA; Sacramento; residents; CA; population; and USA.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR Population (LU1)

FULL MEASURE NAME Population estimates

LAST UPDATED October 2019

DESCRIPTION Population is a measurement of the number of residents that live in a given geographical area, be it a neighborhood, city, county or region.

DATA SOURCES U.S Census Bureau: Decennial Census No link available (1960-1990) http://factfinder.census.gov (2000-2010)

California Department of Finance: Population and Housing Estimates Table E-6: County Population Estimates (1961-1969) Table E-4: Population Estimates for Counties and State (1971-1989) Table E-8: Historical Population and Housing Estimates (2001-2018) Table E-5: Population and Housing Estimates (2011-2019) http://www.dof.ca.gov/Forecasting/Demographics/Estimates/

U.S. Census Bureau: Decennial Census - via Longitudinal Tract Database Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences, Brown University Population Estimates (1970 - 2010) http://www.s4.brown.edu/us2010/index.htm

U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey 5-Year Population Estimates (2011-2017) http://factfinder.census.gov

U.S. Census Bureau: Intercensal Estimates Estimates of the Intercensal Population of Counties (1970-1979) Intercensal Estimates of the Resident Population (1980-1989) Population Estimates (1990-1999) Annual Estimates of the Population (2000-2009) Annual Estimates of the Population (2010-2017) No link available (1970-1989) http://www.census.gov/popest/data/metro/totals/1990s/tables/MA-99-03b.txt http://www.census.gov/popest/data/historical/2000s/vintage_2009/metro.html https://www.census.gov/data/datasets/time-series/demo/popest/2010s-total-metro-and-micro-statistical-areas.html

CONTACT INFORMATION vitalsigns.info@bayareametro.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator) All legal boundaries and names for Census geography (metropolitan statistical area, county, city, and tract) are as of January 1, 2010, released beginning November 30, 2010, by the U.S. Census Bureau. A Priority Development Area (PDA) is a locally-designated area with frequent transit service, where a jurisdiction has decided to concentrate most of its housing and jobs growth for development in the foreseeable future. PDA boundaries are current as of August 2019. For more information on PDA designation see http://gis.abag.ca.gov/website/PDAShowcase/.

Population estimates for Bay Area counties and cities are from the California Department of Finance, which are as of January 1st of each year. Population estimates for non-Bay Area regions are from the U.S. Census Bureau. Decennial Census years reflect population as of April 1st of each year whereas population estimates for intercensal estimates are as of July 1st of each year. Population estimates for Bay Area tracts are from the decennial Census (1970 -2010) and the American Community Survey (2008-2012 5-year rolling average; 2010-2014 5-year rolling average; 2013-2017 5-year rolling average). Estimates of population density for tracts use gross acres as the denominator.

Population estimates for Bay Area PDAs are from the decennial Census (1970 - 2010) and the American Community Survey (2006-2010 5 year rolling average; 2010-2014 5-year rolling average; 2013-2017 5-year rolling average). Population estimates for PDAs are derived from Census population counts at the tract level for 1970-1990 and at the block group level for 2000-2017. Population from either tracts or block groups are allocated to a PDA using an area ratio. For example, if a quarter of a Census block group lies with in a PDA, a quarter of its population will be allocated to that PDA. Tract-to-PDA and block group-to-PDA area ratios are calculated using gross acres. Estimates of population density for PDAs use gross acres as the denominator.

Annual population estimates for metropolitan areas outside the Bay Area are from the Census and are benchmarked to each decennial Census. The annual estimates in the 1990s were not updated to match the 2000 benchmark.

The following is a list of cities and towns by geographical area: Big Three: San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland Bayside: Alameda, Albany, Atherton, Belmont, Belvedere, Berkeley, Brisbane, Burlingame, Campbell, Colma, Corte Madera, Cupertino, Daly City, East Palo Alto, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Fairfax, Foster City, Fremont, Hayward, Hercules, Hillsborough, Larkspur, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Menlo Park, Mill Valley, Millbrae, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Mountain View, Newark, Pacifica, Palo Alto, Piedmont, Pinole, Portola Valley, Redwood City, Richmond, Ross, San Anselmo, San Bruno, San Carlos, San Leandro, San Mateo, San Pablo, San Rafael, Santa Clara, Saratoga, Sausalito, South San Francisco, Sunnyvale, Tiburon, Union City, Vallejo, Woodside Inland, Delta and Coastal: American Canyon, Antioch, Benicia, Brentwood, Calistoga, Clayton, Cloverdale, Concord, Cotati, Danville, Dixon, Dublin, Fairfield, Gilroy, Half Moon Bay, Healdsburg, Lafayette, Livermore, Martinez, Moraga, Morgan Hill, Napa, Novato, Oakley, Orinda, Petaluma, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill, Pleasanton, Rio Vista, Rohnert Park, San Ramon, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Sonoma, St. Helena, Suisun City, Vacaville, Walnut Creek, Windsor, Yountville Unincorporated: all unincorporated towns

As of 2020, around 7.5 percent of the total population of California was uninsured, while the largest part of California's population was insured through employers. This statistic illustrates the health insurance status distribution of the total population in California in 2021.

Updated 10/6/2022: In the Time/Distance analysis process, points that were found to have been included initially, but with no significant or year-round population were removed. The layer of removed points is also available for viewing. MCNA - Removed Population PointsThe Network Adequacy Standards Representative Population Points feature layer contains 97,694 points spread across California that were created from USPS postal delivery route data and US Census data. Each population point also contains the variables for Time and Distance Standards for the County that the point is within. These standards differ by County due to the County "type" which is based on the population density of the county. There are 5 county categories within California: Rural (<50 people/sq mile), Small (51-200 people/sq mile), Medium (201-599 people/sq mile), and Dense (>600 people/sq mile). The Time and Distance data is divided out by Provider Type, Adult and Pediatric separately, so that the Time or Distance analysis can be performed with greater detail. HospitalsOB/GYN SpecialtyAdult Cardiology/Interventional CardiologyAdult DermatologyAdult EndocrinologyAdult ENT/OtolaryngologyAdult GastroenterologyAdult General SurgeryAdult HematologyAdult HIV/AIDS/Infectious DiseaseAdult Mental Health Outpatient ServicesAdult NephrologyAdult NeurologyAdult OncologyAdult OphthalmologyAdult Orthopedic SurgeryAdult PCPAdult Physical Medicine and RehabilitationAdult PsychiatryAdult PulmonologyPediatric Cardiology/Interventional CardiologyPediatric DermatologyPediatric EndocrinologyPediatric ENT/OtolaryngologyPediatric GastroenterologyPediatric General SurgeryPediatric HematologyPediatric HIV/AIDS/Infectious DiseasePediatric Mental Health Outpatient ServicesPediatric NephrologyPediatric NeurologyPediatric OncologyPediatric OphthalmologyPediatric Orthopedic SurgeryPediatric PCPPediatric Physical Medicine and RehabilitationPediatric PsychiatryPediatric Pulmonology