Written by Sasha Reva
California’s population is declining based on the estimates from the state’s Department of Finance and the US Census Bureau. Since 2010, population growth has slowed, and now because of the pandemic, our growth rate is in negative territory. Because of the declining population, we are experiencing a loss of social and economic vitality and a lack of new taxpayers.
The 2021 population decline could be a huge beginning of a long-term trend. That trend most likely will continue due to the increased popularity of remote work. This is a hard problem to solve under the state’s current political position. The biggest reason why is its expensive housing.
If we are not able to make California less expensive, it may be possible to make the state a better place to live. We may offer high living costs with a high quality of life, but California already has many benefits, including great weather, beautiful scenery, and many upscale communities. But we also have problems in this state, such as recurrent water shortages, power outages, and forest fires. And also, we can add COVID-19 as a national problem that is also affecting our living. California had once been a place people flocked too. California offered people a new life and new opportunities. Now it offers the complete opposites.
And states such as Texas, Florida, Idaho, Arizona, and Utah reopened faster than California and they don’t have vaccine/mask mandates. Even blue states like Colorado are opening open, with Colorado Governor Jared Polis saying the “emergency is over” with the vaccine available to anyone who wants it. California still struggles but we can fix that if we will work all together. We should stop closing businesses and mandating vaccines on everyone. People are losing jobs and thousands of people are leaving every month because they are not able to afford living.
Photo Cred: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images
