Gavin Newsom ripped as California’s population drops

A grim new report found California lost more than 50,000 residents last year, leaving Gov. Gavin Newsom and state officials talking out of both sides of their mouths on which direction the state is headed.

On Friday, the state’s Department of Finance issued a defensive press release blaming a “full year of restrictive federal policy changes” on legal international migration, which slashed California’s population growth by more than half. The agency dismissed the loss of tens of thousands of people as a “slight” population drop that represented less than one-seventh of 1%.

But on Friday evening, Newsom appeared on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” and claimed the state is actually growing.

“We’ve also seen the last three year population growth — we’ve got to update our talking points,” Newsom told Maher.

Indeed we do.

Critics of California’s governor were quick to rip Newsom for what they’re calling a coordinated effort to deflect blame.

Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host and leading Republican candidate for governor, tore into the governor’s HBO appearance.

“This shows that Newsom was blatantly lying to Bill Maher on Friday night, when he claimed California’s population was actually increasing,” Hilton said. “His own statistics show the opposite!”

Legal international migration plunged from 248,400 people in 2024 — the highest level since 2018 — to just 126,400 in 2025, a drop of more than 50%, according to the state’s Department of Finance.

State officials stressed that absent federal policy changes on immigration, California’s population would have actually grown by 66,000 people. 

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“Net legal international migration has been a significant driver of California’s overall population, offsetting declines in natural increase — the net number of births and deaths — and net domestic migration from California,” officials said in Friday’s press release.

Corrin Rankin, chairwoman of the California Republican Party, told The Post that Newsom and state officials are once again focusing on the wrong things.

“Californians are not leaving because Washington finally started enforcing the law,” Rankin said in a text message. “They are leaving because Sacramento made this state too expensive, too unsafe, and too hard to build a future.” 

Four of the state’s 10 biggest cities — including Los Angeles at No. 1 — saw their populations decline last year, with the City of Angels (3.8 million people) seeing a 0.9% decrease in residents. Los Angeles County (9.8 million) also saw a 0.6% decline to claim the top spot among declining counties. 

Overall, the state’s ten largest counties — home to 72% of Californians — lost a combined 52,000 residents.

“Gavin Newsom is only losing his mind because President Trump is taking away his biggest supporters,” Nick Poche, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, quippped to The Post.

One of the biggest drivers in pushing people out of the state is the cost of housing.

Friday’s report found that California added just 115,165 housing units in 2025 — a 0.77% increase and down from 0.84% growth the prior year.

A notable share of new homes last year came from accessory dwelling units (ADUs) with 29,710 units, which is hardly the way to build out of a crisis. However, even those gains were partially wiped out by wildfires, which eliminated 11,160 lost in the Eaton and Palisades fires.

Hilton noted that the 115,000-plus new housing units was less than half of Newsom’s goal for the year.

“Now they’re bragging about hitting less than half their goal — it’s failure on every front,” Hilton said.

“This is the most amazing place anywhere in the country — and yet people just can’t afford to live here, and they can’t take the crime, chaos and homelessness anymore. That’s why we’ve got to vote for change in November.”

Gains in population that did occur were largely inland. Sacramento County added 9,000 residents, and regions like Riverside and San Bernardino continued to see modest growth, extending a years-long shift of Californians moving to more affordable areas. 

Placer County posted the fastest growth rate at 1.39%, followed by Yuba County (1.24%) and San Benito County (0.69%). At the city level, six of the state’s ten largest cities grew modestly, led by Sacramento climbing 1.3% (6,809 people) and San Diego adding 10,102 residents for a 0.7% growth rate. 

Statewide, 148 cities gained population while 333 lost residents.