{"id":24095,"date":"2025-11-13T13:18:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T21:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/?p=24095"},"modified":"2026-04-14T14:18:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T21:18:52","slug":"ventura-countys-population-is-aging-and-shrinking-according-to-latest-state-of-the-region-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/es\/ventura-countys-population-is-aging-and-shrinking-according-to-latest-state-of-the-region-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Ventura County\u2019s population is aging and shrinking, according to latest State of the Region report"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was originally published by Ojai Valley News. Read the full article at their website.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the ninth annual State of the Region report by the Ventura County Civic Alliance, the population of Ventura County continues to age and shrink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This change is impacting various sectors, including education, the cost of living and the job market.
According to the report, the population of Ventura County peaked in 2016 and has declined by more than 20,000 people since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also on a downward trend is school enrollment, with 2024-25 being the lowest enrollment since 1994-95.
\u201cSchools get paid per student,\u201d said the report\u2019s writer, Tony Biasotti, during the debut on Nov. 10. \u201cAs you have declining enrollment, you will have to downsize your school, lay off teachers, potentially close schools. It\u2019s not great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And with an aging population, the workforce is also shrinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause of that, we tend to show low unemployment, but really not a lot of job growth,\u201d Biasotti said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Housing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Despite a declining population, the county is still experiencing a housing shortage, with the number of new homes added in the past decade falling far below what the county built in the 1990s and early 2000s.
\u201cI think that has something to do with the other fact, about our population getting older,\u201d Biasotti said. \u201cThe average household size is getting smaller. Somebody with a million-dollar-plus home, which is not unusual around here, you might have a retired household of one or two people instead of a family of four in that house.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And home prices remain high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June, the median price of all single-family homes sold in the county was $975,000, the highest on record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf that goes on, and people choose not to live in Ventura County, that will reduce the demand to live here and will eventually reduce home prices and rents,\u201d Biasotti estimated. \u201cBut we have to ask ourselves as a community if that\u2019s what we want \u2014 if we want our affordability to get better because fewer people want to live here, or if we\u2019d like to do it by increasing the supply of housing so more people can live here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bucking the trend is Oxnard, where new housing developments are taking place. The 341-unit Vintage Lockwood affordable senior housing project is underway, as are plans to build another 234-unit project nearby along the 101 freeway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also the development of the 301-unit complex at 21300 W. Oxnard St.; the 150-unit complex off Cypress Road; the massive 990-unit Teal Club Road development; and the 58-unit Dolores Huerta Gardens complex, named after the noted American labor leader and civil rights activist, which opened in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery time there\u2019s a major housing development that comes to a planning commission anywhere in California, everybody comes out and says, \u2018Oh no, not this, not near us,\u2019\u201d said Oxnard City Manager Alex Nguyen. \u201cThis is one of those social problems that\u2019s actually not caused by the government; it\u2019s caused by all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Creating employment opportunities for local residents may help with housing affordability issues, Nguyen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur residents work very hard, but they earn very, very little,\u201d he said. \u201cOur goal right now for this generation is to find ways to make sure our current residents can actually participate in this economy.\u201d
The average cost of living in the county for a single adult is $29.59 an hour, according to the report, and for two adults with one child, it\u2019s $48.57 an hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, farming, fishing and forestry workers in the county are making an average of $19.78 an hour, food prep is at $20.22 an hour and health care support is at $20.57 an hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amgen is trying to tackle the problem by creating more local biotech-related jobs, which fall under the life, physical and social science job category, where average wages are $48.08 an hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s at least 40 biotech companies of various sizes along the Conejo Valley, up through Camarillo,\u201d said Chad Pettit, executive director of global government affairs at Amgen, who also spoke about the recent groundbreaking for the $600 million Amgen Science and Innovation Center in Thousand Oaks, estimated to bring hundreds of new jobs to the county by its 2029 opening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSunshine and sea breezes don\u2019t pay the rent,\u201d Pettit said. \u201cWe need a mix of housing that\u2019s not just single-family homes to be able to attract those types of jobs that allow for a wage that matches the cost of living in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crime<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ventura County\u2019s appeal is also its low crime rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ventura County experienced the lowest overall crime rate of California\u2019s 28 large counties in 2024. And crime in the early 2020s in Ventura County was about one-third of what it was in the early 1990s.
\u201cIf residents don\u2019t feel safe, if businesses feel that they\u2019re not able to operate, the economy will not flourish,\u201d said Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko, adding that a strong economy means hiring additional staff, installing more traffic cameras and other financial contributions that create a safer community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But housing also plays a role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHousing, supportive housing, interim housing, emergency shelters, are all, in my opinion, crime prevention measures,\u201d Nasarenko said. \u201cWhen people are housed, when they have an opportunity to be indoors, not on public streets in front of businesses, in front of parks, the likelihood of crime just falls.\u201d
In 2025, the number of homeless people in Ventura County (1,990 people) was the lowest since 2020.
But because the count is done once a year in January, there\u2019s likely \u201ca great many more people than this that are probably homeless throughout the year,\u201d Biasotti said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other stats from the report<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

More than nine out of 10 eligible Ventura County residents are registered to vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ojai is the tourism capital of Ventura County, making $9.9 million in transient occupancy taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naval Base Ventura County remains the largest employer in the county.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

High school graduation rates rose to 89.3%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirty percent or more of students in most schools failed to meet the state standard in English, and 40% tested below the standard in math.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enrollment continues to shrink at California Lutheran University and CSU Channel Islands, forcing both schools to cut budgets and lay off employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The average rent of all apartments in Ventura County in July was $2,711 per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every part of the county had its lowest rainfall total since 2020-21. In 2025, Ventura County went back into drought status for the first time since 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teen pregnancy in Ventura County plummeted to an all-time low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the county, 149 residents died from opioid overdoses, the lowest number since 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ventura County has the third-highest leukemia and prostate cancer rates of the state\u2019s 28 largest counties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heart disease and cancer remain the most common causes of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Ojai, violent crime rates more than doubled, jumping from nine incidents in 2023 to 20 in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBehind those numbers are real people, real lives, our neighbors,\u201d said Vanessa Bechtel, president and CEO of the Ventura County Community Foundation, regarding the latest statistics. \u201cSystems change when people change, and people change when they\u2019re cherished.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To view the full 120-page report, visit: https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/yhwthdyw<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article was originally published by Ojai Valley News. Read the full article at their website. According to the ninth annual State of the Region report by the Ventura County…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-coverage"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24095\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}