Census Data

How much has Southern California grown since the last census?

Since the 1990 Census, the Southern California region has grown from 14.6 million to 16.5 million. An increase of 12.81%. All of the counties in the SCAG region experienced a growth of at least 12% with the exception of Los Angeles County, which grew by 7.4%. In absolute numbers L.A. County grew by 656,286 which was the highest increase in the state.

Are the census figures on track with SCAG's previous projections?

The census counts were approximately 2% lower (340,608) than SCAG previous projections of 16,856,614. Most of the difference was attributable to Los Angeles County (277,516).

How do the census figures compare to the state's own projections?

The state’s population projections were also higher than our census counts. The Department of Finance has argued that the difference is attributable to an undercount of the population in California, which has been reported as 529,782.

Do these numbers indicate that growth rates throughout the state are generally consistent?

The growth rates across the state ranged from a decrease of 2.4 % in Modoc County to an increase of 45.1% in San Benito County. However, the greatest increases continued to be in the Inland Empire and the Central Valley. These areas grew at a higher rate than the remaining portions of the state. The Inland Empire (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties) added over 666,000 persons between 1990 and 2000. The increase is comparable to the entire population of Kern County.

Which areas of the region saw the most explosive growth?

The Inland Empire continued to grow at the highest rate both in the SCAG region and statewide. In Imperial County the City of Calipatria grew 171% between 1990 and 2000, with the increase primarily the result of the opening of a prison facility within the city. In Los Angeles County the city with largest percent increase was Lancaster. Orange County's fastest growing city was Tustin at 33.2%. Riverside County's fastest growing city was La Quinta with a growth of 111%, which was similar to the growth rate of Adelanto (113%) in San Bernardino County. Ventura County’s fastest growth city was Moorpark at 23.2%

Which area of the region saw the least growth?

The slowest growing cities by County were Holtville (Imperial County) at 16.4%, Vernon (LA County) –40.1%, Villa Park (Orange County) –4.8%, Norco (Riverside County) 3.7%, Needles (San Bernardino County) –7.0% and Ojai (Ventura County) 3.3%. In total there were 16 cities out of 185 that experienced a population decrease between 1990 and 2000.

Have Hispanics become the majority ethnic group in Southern California?

The Hispanic population now represents the largest ethnic group (40.57%) followed by White (38.85%), Asian (10.19%) and African American (7.30%). The white population represents the largest ethnic group in Orange County (51.26%), Riverside County (51.04%), and Ventura County (56.75%). The Hispanic population is the largest ethnic group in Imperial County at 72.22%. Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties have no majority ethnic group.

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