INLAND: Economic downturn may mean fewer residents
10:51 PM PDT on Wednesday, September 14, 2011
The Inland area grew so rapidly in the early to mid 2000s that some cities doubled in population.
Based on that trend, the California Department of Finance in mid-2007 predicted the growth would continue far into the future.
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Riverside County population forecast to double by 2050, ranking it No. 2 in state (2007)
Reverse migration: Economy forces some Mexican nationals to return home, with varying emotions (2009)
San Bernardino County losing thousands of residents as Riverside County growth remains sluggish (2010)
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Then the economy tanked. Growth slowed. Jobs disappeared. People moved out. Immigration plummeted.
Now the state is preparing to adjust its projections downward. The Inland area is still expected to grow more than the rest of the state but the region's lower projected population could affect the timetables for road construction, new police and fire stations and sewers.
The Southern California Association of Governments, SCAG, already has made preliminary adjustments.
The new July 2011 forecast, which still must be approved by SCAG's board, projects the population of Riverside and San Bernardino counties will reach 4.94 million by 2020 -- compared to nearly 5.4 million in the early 2008 forecast.
The 2010 census counted 4.22 million Inland residents.
Projections are always inexact, and adjustments are routinely made every several years based on changing circumstances and census numbers.
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