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Sonoma County's Population Growth: Facts & Fallacies Printable Version [182k]
1. How fast are we growing?Using 1950 as a starting point, the US population growth rate is similar to other industrial nations. However, California's far exceeds the rest of the nation, and resembles a developing nation such as Mexico. Sonoma County actually exceeds Mexico's growth rate by a significant margin.Note that Sonoma's growth rate accelerates about the same time that Marin levels off, around 1970, when Marin imposed strict growth limits. This demonstrates that local growth limits may merely displace growth, and that effective regional planning is needed to manage growth equitably and sustainably.
2. What fuels our rapid population growth?Many believe it is mostly natural increase (births in excess of deaths) . However, this chart shows that natural increase is only a small portion of our growth, and that in-migration accounts for two to five times as much net increase as births.Sonoma County actually has a significantly lower birth rate than the state as a whole. Our birth rate rarely adds more than two thousand people per year, while in-migration can add as many as ten or twelve thousand.
3. Where are these immigrants coming from?Once again, conventional wisdom is wrong: most are coming from other parts of the US, not from foreign countries. Note that while international migration to Sonoma County has been fairly constant in relation to population, migration from within the US has fluctuated widely, due in part to the high mobility of tech workers. Domestic migration was low during the slow economy of the mid-nineties, and rose with recent telecom expansion. Job creation clearly affects our population growth rate.
This is the first in a series of mailings from the Leadership Institute providing crucial research and information on key public policy issues. By providing policymakers and community leaders with the facts, we promote a more informed public discourse and better decisions. If you would like to add a friend or colleague to our mailing list (or remove yourself), please contact us at (707) 578-9133, or by email at: ecoleader@ecoleader.org.
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