Long Beach's Population Increased by Nearly 1 Percent

LONG BEACH, CA -- If it seems there are more people in Long Beach than before, it's because there are.

Long Beach, the seventh-largest city in the state, added about 3,000 residents last year, the state Department of Finance reported Monday.

According to the agency's annual state population estimates, the city's population as of Jan. 1 was 484,958.

Orange County's Irvine was ranked as one of the state's fastest-growing cities, increasing its population by 2.6 percent to reach 258,386. The city had the largest numeric change in population -- 6,650 -- for any city in the state with fewer than 300,000 people.

The population of Los Angeles County was 10,241,335 on Jan. 1, up 0.8 percent from the same date in 2015.

The city of Angels' population grew by 1.3 percent in 2015, pushing the number of residents over the 4 million mark for the first time -- an increase of roughly 50,000 people.

The statewide growth rate was 0.9 percent last year, with an addition of 348,000 residents, bringing California's population to 39,256,000, according to the agency's data.

The Department of Finance reported that growth was evenly distributed around the state, with most cities and counties experiencing increases in population.

Behind Los Angeles, the rest of the state's 10 largest cities on Jan. 1 were, in order:

• 2. San Diego, 1,391,676;
• 3. San Jose, 1,042,094;
• 4. San Francisco, 866,583;
• 5. Fresno, 520,453;
• 6. Sacramento, 485,683;
• 7. Long Beach, 484,958;
• 8. Oakland, 422,856;
• 9. Bakersfield, 379,110; and
• 10. Anaheim, 358,136.

--City News Service, photo via Shutterstock