For the first time since California officials kept statistics, the state population declined in 2020. California now has 39.5 million people. That’s down 182 thousand since the previous census.
That’s why the US Census Bureau recently announced that the state would lose a congressional seat for the first time. The reason for the drop in population, declining birth rate and a reduction in immigration.
In San Luis Obispo county, the population declined by 2%. Paso Robles population declined 0.6%. Atascadero’s population dropped 1.4%.
The only city in the county to see population growth was San Luis Obispo at 0.3%.
