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County population continues to grow at very slow rate
Third year in a row for less than 1 percent growth
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More from County NewsSACRAMENTO — Ventura County continued to grow very slowly last year, fueled by a steady increase in births coupled with an influx of foreign immigration that barely neutralized the exodus of residents to other counties and states.
In its annual population estimates released Wednesday, the state Department of Finance said the county grew by 0.95 percent last year to 826,550. It was the third straight year the county's growth rate was less than 1 percent.
Researchers said the county experienced a fourth consecutive year of domestic out-migration, meaning that more residents moved out of Ventura County to other parts of the state and country than moved in. They estimated this year's net exodus to be 3,150 people — down from a loss of 3,832 in 2006 and 5,216 in 2005.
The trend, said Bill Watkins, executive director of the UC Santa Barbara Economic Forecast Project, is a reflection of economic reality: high housing prices coupled with fewer opportunities to land a job that pays enough to afford a house.
"Opportunities are declining," he said, noting layoffs at the county's two largest private employers, Amgen Inc. and Countrywide Financial Corp.
Added to the mix this year has been the subprime mortgage crisis, which has led to a surge in foreclosures that has increased economic pressure for people to flee to areas with lower housing costs.
Bob Schrader, controller at Hilford Moving and Storage in Ventura, said his industry has not benefited by the number of people leaving.
"Under normal circumstances, we have more people moving in than moving out," he said. "But these aren't normal circumstances. You've now got people just walking away from their homes and taking nothing with them except a few personal possessions."
Statewide, 88,000 more people left California than came in from other states. All the outward movement was from coastal counties, where housing prices are among the highest in the state. The top five counties with negative domestic migration were Los Angeles, Orange, Alameda, Monterey and Ventura.
California's population grew by 1.17 percent last year, adding 438,455 people to 37.8 million, the department reported. About half of the net increase was the result of immigration, legal and illegal, from other countries.
All but two of the state's 58 counties grew, led by Riverside, Imperial and Sutter counties, which each grew by more than 3 percent.
Riverside County, with housing prices that are relatively low compared to the rest of Southern California, continued to attract newcomers from other parts of the state and nation. It recorded a positive domestic migration of almost 37,000 people.
All of the figures cited in the estimate are as of July 1, the start of the state's fiscal year, The estimates are used to determine allocation of revenues for state assistance to counties that is calculated on a per-capita basis.
Posted by dcsfancy on December 20, 2007 at 6:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Are we counting all the undocumented people?
Posted by Face on December 20, 2007 at 6:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow, this coupled with the housing woes will really keep Ventura County property values plummeting.
Posted by lrgvanman on December 20, 2007 at 7:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I would leave, too, but the high cost of California keeps me stuck here. It used to be the land of opportunity but now is like a sinkhole that you can't get out of. Dramatically expensive, it is. Everything sucks about it including the weather.
Posted by clementine on December 20, 2007 at 10:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Stop complaining about Ventura County - if you don't like living here - move away. I love this area -- beautiful homes, fabulous weather, clean streets, convenient to everything ---- shopping & the beach! I'm from Brooklyn, NY - understand???? I couldn't even afford a dumpy apartment in New York. I know a young female who just relocated from Calabasas to New York City for a great job. Her studio apartment near Central Park is 400 sq. ft. & doesn't even have a real bedroom - rent is $1800/mo.
Posted by lrgvanman on December 20, 2007 at 7:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
My main complaint is about the cost of living, coupled with the traffic/population problems here. I have lived here for some 39 years and seen it escalate intensely. When I came to Oxnard in 1969, there were some 84,000 here. Not being sarcastic but it must be nice to be in that wealthier class, however, we all need each other and, clementine, I was hasty this morning. I have loved this place since I came here but some times I feel frustrated. I lived in mid upper state New York, lower Michigan and had a brief stay in Connecticut so I can say I will eat my words about the weather comment. I remember Cold and I remember Muggy.
Posted by cableguy on December 20, 2007 at 9:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Don't worry - the affordable housing problem will settle down soon as the prices continue to decline. They will probably never come back up to the "bubble" prices that we've seen due to the free credit fiasco instituted to try to keep the economy from completely collapsing before Bush goes out of office.
Cost of housing and low paying jobs affect lots of places. Yet the middle class continues to flee California. It's not because of the housing costs. Ask your friends who are leaving and what do they say? It's too damn crowded, the schools are terrible, too much traffic and the gang activity is depressing. You'll never hear Watkins talk about those issues though. He has to stay on message..."affordable housing"...they've been saying we're experiencing so much growth we have to keep building and tearing out agriculture because we need more housing. Build it and they will come but it's still a manipulation.
Posted by Face on December 21, 2007 at 6:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yeah, the housing costs are too expensive for middle class earners, that is the reason. Why are they leaving now? If it was for all the other reasons above, this exodus would be 15 years old and there would be no story.
Posted by KathrynAsh on December 21, 2007 at 8:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm not convinced that housing prices coming down will stop the exodus. The prices of starter homes are really coming down and many are being sold to investors as rental properties. Neighhoorhoods that use to be nicely maintained modest homes are now going to crap with a bunch of rentals and foreclosures. When neighorhoods go down hill, and anyone who can afford to move either runs to nicer areas or out of state.
I've really doubted all the predictions of how many more people are going to be in Ventura County in 10 or 20 years. It seems that they don't take into account all the people who would leave if things got so crowded. People who bought real estate 20 or 30 years ago still have made a huge profit, there's no reason to think just because prices have gone down there aren't plenty of people wanting to cash out and leave the state.
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