A new NumbersUSA analysis attributes most of California’s development-driven loss of farmland and natural areas since 1970 to population growth associated with immigration, while also linking that expansion to pressure on housing, water and transportation.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
A newly released study examining more than five decades of development in California concludes that population growth associated with immigration has been the primary driver of the state’s expanding urban footprint and the accompanying loss of agricultural and natural land.
NumbersUSA published the September analysis, Paving Paradise, after reviewing changes in California’s developed areas from 1970 through the present. Researchers attributed 91% of the land converted for development during that period to continued population growth tied to immigration.
California’s population has approximately doubled over the past 50 years, according to the study, increasing demand for housing, roads and other infrastructure as communities expanded outward.
The researchers also associated that population growth with increasing pressure on water supplies, wildlife habitat, transportation networks and housing costs, as well as greater exposure to wildfires.
Between 1982 and 2022, the report said California lost 3,740 square miles of natural land. About 2.4 million acres were converted for housing and infrastructure during that period, an area the study described as roughly three times the size of Yosemite National Park.
Jim Robb, vice president of NumbersUSA, said the scale of California’s population expansion has become particularly visible in transportation congestion.
“There’s been a huge amount of population growth since we were looking at California last and one of the biggest issues is the length of commutes and constant jamming of all the highways,” Robb told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Transportation concerns featured prominently in polling included with the report.
NumbersUSA commissioned Noble Predictive Insights to survey 1,030 California residents in August. Seventy-eight percent of respondents said they were concerned about increasing commute times, while 80% expressed concern about the state’s future water supply.
The survey also found that 93% of respondents considered protecting California’s remaining farmland, forests, wetlands and open spaces from additional development important.
California has pursued large transportation projects intended to provide alternatives to increasingly congested highways, but those efforts have not resolved the state’s broader transportation problems, as the Daily Caller News Foundation has previously reported.
Housing and employment pressures were also cited in the report’s discussion of population growth.
The material accompanying the study said 24 million California residents have moved to other states and attributed that migration to factors including higher housing costs, greater competition within labor markets and downward pressure on wages associated with continued immigration.
California’s immigration levels have remained among the highest in the country. The state, which maintains sanctuary policies, has the largest population of illegal immigrants in the United States, according to the material provided.
Approximately 400,000 immigrants came to California between 2021 and 2023 during the Biden administration, according to information from the Public Policy Institute of California.
Robb said California’s economic opportunities, natural attractions and public benefits continue to draw new residents even as the availability of land and employment remains finite.
“There’s a lot of reasons California is a big draw, its a beautiful state with a gigantic economy, and major welfare benefits but there’s also limited land and limited jobs so it puts pressure on the people who are already there,” Robb said.
The NumbersUSA analysis presents California’s land-use changes as the cumulative result of decades of population expansion, arguing that continued growth has required additional construction while intensifying competition for housing, water, open space and transportation capacity across the state.
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