These California counties saw the biggest population decline during the pandemic

California Exodus: Thousands leaving the Golden State for these reasons

During the first year of the pandemic, Los Angeles lost almost 176,000 residents, the second-biggest drop among U.S. metro areas.

LOS ANGELES - New U.S. Census data released Thursday shows several California counties ranking high on the list of regions that saw the biggest decline in population during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Census looked at the US counties that saw significant population declines between April 1, 2020 and July 1, 2021, simultaneously with the start of the pandemic.

Here are the California counties that made the national list's top 10.

Los Angeles County— Decline of 184,465 residents
San Francisco County— Decline of 58,764 residents
Santa Clara County— Decline of 50,751 residents
Alameda County — Decline of 33,797 residents

[Source: U.S. Census Bureau]

Los Angeles lost almost 176,000 residents, the second-biggest drop among US metro areas. Like New York, births outnumbered deaths, and there was an increase in international residents. But it wasn’t even close enough to overcome the loss of tens of thousands of residents who moved away. Its population dropped to 12.9 million residents.

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The US region that saw the biggest population growth from 2020 to 2021 was the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington region of Texas, which saw an influx of more than 97,000 residents.

You can explore more census data here.

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