Los Angeles County lost more people during the height of the pandemic – residents who moved or died of COVID-19 – than any big county in the country, according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Though some neighboring areas fared better, the sharp decline in the nation’s most populous county led to a regional population collapse last seen in Southern California during the aerospace crash of the early 1990s.
In all, the head count in Los Angeles County shrunk 2.9% during a 27-month window, from slightly more than 10 million on April 1, 2020, about the time the first wave of COVID-19 deaths were making news, to a population of just over 9.7 million on July 1, 2022, when the pandemic was less dire.
While some people who moved may have landed nearby, as the census shows county populations in the Inland Empire grew or held steady, the pandemic-era flight from Los Angeles, and a smaller drop-off in Orange County, prompted a broad contraction in the combined population of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, a 1.4% dip to just over 17.5 million.
In raw numbers, the four-county region lost about 9,666 residents a month during the 27-month window tracked in the census report.
The Southern California decline was in line with the state – which lost about 1.2% of its population during the period covered in the census survey – but ran counter to the broad national trend, which saw the national head count grow by 0.8% during the 24 months that ended Dec. 31, 2022, according to census data.
Other local, pandemic-era population shifts included:
• Orange County contracted by 1.1%, to 3.151 million.
• San Bernardino County held flat, gaining 0.5%, to 2.193 million.
• Riverside County grew 2.3%, to 2.473 million.
Such population shifts, if they continue to play out after the pandemic – something state experts and others currently forecast as unlikely – could have long-term financial consequences.
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