Population Up Slightly, State Says

For the second consecutive year, Ventura County grew by only about 1.5%, according to figures released Tuesday by the California Department of Finance.

The county’s population growth rate had hovered between 2.1% and 2.3% a year in the late 1980s, said Steve Wood, a senior planner for the county.

The county’s population rose by 1.57% between January, 1991, and January, 1992, from 676,271 to 686,868, according to estimates by the Department of Finance.

“It has been slowing down,” Wood said. “But it looks like we’ve bottomed out or it’s leveled off from the decline that occurred last year” in the growth rate.

In 1990, Ventura County’s population grew 1.43%, increasing from 666,753 to 676,271, according to the Department of Finance.

Layoffs and the loss of business have forced some people to leave Ventura County and Los Angeles County, Wood said.

“Part of our growth in the past may have been people in Los Angeles County moving into this county,” he said. “So, the economy in L. A. County may be affecting in-migration into this county, as well as job loss that’s occurred in this county.”

Ventura County grew a little more quickly last year than Los Angeles County, in which the population increased by 1.46%, from 8,956,000 to 9,087,000, said Elizabeth Hoag, research analyst for the Department of Finance.

But Ventura County’s growth rate did not match the 2.4% increase in Orange County, which grew in population from 2,452,000 to 2,512,000; the 2.2% population increase in San Diego County, which grew from 2,547,000 to 2,602,000, or the 1.7% increase in Alameda County, which went from 1,291,000 residents to 1,313,000.

The department bases its numbers on “births, deaths, school enrollment, the number of registered voters, driver’s license address changes, the numbers of registered autos, housing units--and the change in all that data from year to year,” Hoag said.

The fastest-growing city in the county was Camarillo, which posted a 3.3% increase in population, from 53,715 to 55,502.

Camarillo city officials said they cannot account for the growth. No sizable housing projects were completed in 1991, City Manager Bill Little said.

Little said the Department of Finance may be counting homes built in 1990 that were not occupied until late last year.

Port Hueneme, where almost all the available land has been developed, actually experienced a 1.9% drop in population, from 20,265 to 19,889, the department reported. City Manager Dick Velthoen could not be reached for comment.

Thousand Oaks City Manager Grant Brimhall said the economy has affected growth countywide.

“Even though the interest rates are way down, you’ve got the economic reality that everyone’s been facing,” Brimhall said. “There are fewer homes being built, and coupled with the average family size continuing to drop, I think most of the growth that did occur is simply homes that once were vacant--they’re now being occupied.”

Ventura County Population

City As of 1/92 As of 1/91 % increase Camarillo 55,502 53,715 3.3 Fillmore 12,431 12,071 3.0 Oxnard 146,432 143,386 2.1 Ojai 7,754 7,622 1.7 Santa Paula 25,847 25,433 1.6 Unincorporated areas 90,144 88,708 1.6 Moorpark 26,173 25,824 1.4 Ventura 94,340 93,181 1.2 Simi Valley 101,799 100,621 1.2 Thousand Oaks 106,557 105,445 1.1 Port Hueneme 19,889 20,265 -1.9 TOTAL 686,868 676,271 1.6