Orange County’s big shift: Older cities lose population as Irvine, south county boom

A team of masons put the finishing coat of stucco on a two-story house in the Pavilion Park neighborhood near Irvine’s Great Park. Within Orange County, demographic data shows some suburbs — like the Great Park neighborhood — and exurbs have been able to thrive with growing populations while nearby urban areas like Anaheim, Costa Mesa and Santa Ana have been losing population. Anaheim city spokesperson Mike Lyster conceded that when it comes to the need for new housing, there is “no doubt we face challenges as a largely built-out city.” Population decline and lack of housing, he said, are “issues our city will be looking at and wrestling with.” Unlike newer, less-developed cities in Orange County, “every bit of land in our city is spoken for,” Lyster said, adding that new housing — including some 17,000 units planned by 2029 — largely must come through rezoning and redevelopment. The Pro Movers Inc. website features a page titled “Moving from Anaheim to Irvine.” For good reason: USPS data shows that Anaheim had the most net move-outs and Irvine had the most move-ins. Deborah Diep, director of the Center for Demographic Research at Cal State University, Fullerton, said that the high rate of move-ins in “Irvine and are most likely due to new housing construction.” When asked previously about Irvine’s population growth, Mayor Farrah Khan said she was not surprised that an Irvine ZIP Code shows the second-most net move-ins of any in California.