Like most Western cities, San Diego’s been growing for decades.
But it’s the way that the city’s growing that has changed – and it started right around the end of the Cold War.
Through the 1970s and ’80s, a lot of people moved to San Diego from other parts of the country. But once the Cold War ended, military spending and jobs dried up. Ever since, more people have moved away from San Diego to other parts of the country than have come here to settle.
So the population growth we’ve seen lately has more to do with natural factors — people being born, and residents living longer — not folks moving to America’s Finest City.
NBC 7’s Monica Dean and Andrew Keatts have more on this San Diego Explained.