California's population has now topped thirty-eight million people. The state Department of Finance reports nearly 500,000 have been added to the state over the past year. That's a growth rate of just over one-percent.
Mary Heim is chief of demographic research for the Department. She says the state's growth is roughly the same as the previous year. As for what's driving it- she says in part it's due to more births than deaths.
Heim: And then we also have an excess of immigrants coming into the state. So we are growing from immigration. But we still are losing population to other states, so there are more people leaving California for other parts of the United States than coming into California from other states.
Most cities gained people. Nearly three dozen lost population and two reported no change. San Joaquin in Fresno County was the state's fastest growing city, increasing by more than 17 percent.
San Diego is the state's third largest city. It grew by one and a half-percent and has more than 1.3 million people.
