California’s population recovery is driven mainly by international migration, a factor that also plays a major role in U.S. population growth, recent Census Bureau data show.
The state’s population in 2024 reached more than 39.4 million, about 0.6 percent higher than in 2023, according to new estimates released on Dec. 19 by the U.S. Census Bureau. The estimate for 2024 in California is still about 124,000 less, or 0.3 percent, of the population in April 2020.
