07-02-2014, 03:50 PM
WIM--
I should have read the article you linked before weighing in. I now see that the author goes beyond just domestic migration, and points out that LA's foreign migration has fallen behind numerous other big U.S. cities that are magnet for immigrants.
Still, the article strikes me as overly alarmist. The comparison between coastal California and the Rust Belt should be laughable to anyone who's ever spent time in both places. California's population may be aging, but that's true for the entire country. As of 2009, the last year for which I could find state-by-state data handy, California's median age was 34.8, a full 2 years younger than the nationwide median age. You'd also never guess from that article that California's population grew by 3.5 million people -- from 34.5 million to 38 million -- between 2000 and 2012.
I should have read the article you linked before weighing in. I now see that the author goes beyond just domestic migration, and points out that LA's foreign migration has fallen behind numerous other big U.S. cities that are magnet for immigrants.
Still, the article strikes me as overly alarmist. The comparison between coastal California and the Rust Belt should be laughable to anyone who's ever spent time in both places. California's population may be aging, but that's true for the entire country. As of 2009, the last year for which I could find state-by-state data handy, California's median age was 34.8, a full 2 years younger than the nationwide median age. You'd also never guess from that article that California's population grew by 3.5 million people -- from 34.5 million to 38 million -- between 2000 and 2012.