Yolo County population decreases with state

The county's population fell 1.7% in one year

Yolo County’s population decreased by 1.7% from January 2020 to January 2021, according to population estimates released from the Department of Finance on Friday.

As a whole, the county’s population went from 221,276 in 2020 to 217,500 in 2021. Woodland’s population is estimated to have grown from 60,809 in 2020 to 60,978 in 2021, a .3% increase.

The newly released report is a reversal of a report released in December, which saw Yolo County’s population increase by nearly half a percent from July 2019 to July 2020.

The city of Winters saw a significant increase in its population over the last year, going from 7,257 to 7,618, an increase of 5% likely caused by an increase in housing

available within the city. Winters ranked third in the largest percentage increase of single-family housing, seeing an increase of about 7.5%, and ranking fifth in total housing growth, with 6.1%.

Yolo County has seen a larger decline in residents than its neighboring counties. Sacramento County’s population increased by .5% and Solano County saw a decrease of .2%. However, the decrease within Yolo County is reflective of a larger population decrease throughout California. California’s population fell from about 39.6 million to about 39.5, a decrease of .5%.

San Benito County, located in the Coast Range Mountains east of Salinas, saw the largest population increase with 1.7% with Placer County, located east of Sacramento, right behind it with 1.5%.

Lassen County, located in the far northern part of California, saw the largest population decrease with 3.8%.

The reasoning for the smaller population likely falls on the pandemic and changes related to immigration policy, according to the Department of Finance. COVID-19 brought a large number of extra deaths, 19% higher than the average death rates of the last three years, the report noted. Additionally, the lack of new visas being issued cut back on international migration and international students in California.

Birth rates have been declining for the past few years, but this is the first year since population estimates were taken that California’s population shrank.

“As pandemic-related deaths decline and with changes in federal policy, California is expected to return to a slightly positive annual growth when calendar year 2021 population estimates are released in May 2022,” the Department of Finance stated.