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A map where you can track by county: https://www.axios.com/2023/04/07/population-change-pandemic

I agree it's still overstated, but the -7% in San Francisco county is interesting.

COVID would probably have been a huge factor in that one. A city known for tech and expensive living, all of a sudden people don't have to go into an office and can get the same salary and live elsewhere cheaper.

That doesn't tell you that all of those people left the state, though. A lot of SF folks moved to other parts of CA; housing prices in Fresno went crazy during the pandemic, anecdotally because it was all Bay Area folks discovering that they could now remote-work from anywhere.

Actually according to census data, CA population peaked in 2020 at 39.5 million, and as of 2022 was at 39.02 million, a drop of almost 500k people.

While I agree "cratering" is still hyperbolic for that change, it's quite a bit more than the numbers you mentioned imply.

39.5 -> 38.9