California Population Grows By 1 Percent
LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) —The City of Angels is still the largest in the state of California, but the cities of San Diego and San Jose experienced the largest gains in population last year, state demographers announced Friday.
California grew by about 1 percent, adding 358,000 residents to reach 38.7 million, in 2014, according to the state Department of Finance. The growth rate mirrors that of recent years, and the population gains were widely distributed throughout the state.
Los Angeles grew 1.1 percent by adding nearly 43,000 people and remains the state's largest city with nearly 4 million people. However, the second- and third-largest cities each grew at a rate of about 1.5 percent.
As of Jan. 1, San Diego had nearly 1.4 million people, and San Jose had 1 million people. San Francisco was the state's fourth-largest city with 845,602 people, and Fresno placed fifth by recording 520,159 people.
San Joaquin County was the fastest-growing county in the state, adding nearly 11,000 people. It was closely followed by Imperial County and three San Francisco Bay Area counties, including San Francisco, Alameda and Contra Costa.
Los Angeles County grew by 0.8 percent to more than 10.13 million people. Long Beach, the county's second-largest city, grew by 0.5 percent over the past year and now has a population of 472,779, according to the state.
Orange County's population jumped by 1.1 percent over the past year to reach 3,147,655.
The fastest-growing city in the state was Taft in Kern County. Taft, which reopened a correctional facility, grew 6.3 percent to 9,500 residents.
California continues to add people even as the state endures its fourth year of drought, prompting tough conservation efforts. Earlier this week, Gov. Jerry Brown called for $10,000 fines for residents and businesses that waste the most water during the drought.
Brown previously ordered a mandatory 25 percent reduction in statewide water use in cities and towns after voluntary conservation wasn't enough to meet his goals.
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