If the region feels more crowded and congested these days, it's because San Diego County added just over 28,000 new residents in a one-year period, the state Department of Finance reported Wednesday.
San Diego County's population on July 1 of this year was 3,275,546, up 0.86 percent from July 2014. The number of people added ranked second among the state's 58 counties, while the percentage was tied for 21st, according to the state report.
Los Angeles County added nearly 68,700 new residents, and is the state's most populous at nearly 10.2 million.
Overall, California's population grew by 346,000 to a total of 39.1 million, according to the report.
Most of the increase was due to births minus deaths, but around 84,000 moved into California from elsewhere around the U.S. or other countries.
In San Diego County during the one-year period, there were almost 45,000 births and nearly 20,000 deaths, for a natural increase of around 25,000 people. About 3,000 more moved into the region.
The Department of Finance said the population estimates were developed using data from a variety of sources, including birth and death counts provided by the Department of Public Health, number of driver's licenses and driver's license address change data from the Department of Motor Vehicles.
The authors of the study also used housing unit data from local governments, school enrollment information from the Department of Education, and federal income tax return data from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
