PEOPLE LEAVING COUNTY IN DROVES.

Byline: Beth Barrett Staff Writer

The exodus of Los Angeles County residents to surrounding counties and nearby states accelerated significantly during the past year, driving the largest population shift in the nation, according to new U.S. Census Bureau figures released Thursday.

Fueled by soaring housing prices, traffic congestion, and new jobs in outlying areas, residents left L.A. at an average net rate of 9,621 per month between July 1, 2003, and last July 1, compared with an average net of 7,373 per month over the three previous years - a 30 percent increase on average.

The figures show 115,434 more residents left the county last year than newcomers arrived. But the overall population still increased with 98,184 new immigrants arriving from foreign countries and 94,675 more births than deaths.

Experts said the trend is a continuing shrinking of the middle class in Los Angeles and a worsening of the disparity in income between new arrivals and the wealthier, long-term residents whose incomes likely will grow.

William H. Frey, a demographer and visiting fellow at The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., said the decades-long shift of populations to the suburbs has accelerated and expanded throughout the nation, with more families moving farther away into what's been dubbed the exurbs.

``What's happened in Southern California is a mega-trend of what's happening elsewhere, with people moving farther and farther from the central urban area. In California, it's even beyond state lines.''

Frey said studies show that no longer is the migration a ``white flight'' phenomena, but that Hispanics, in particular, and other ethnic groups are joining in increasing numbers.

Los Angeles remained the nation's largest county with a population of 9,937,739 as of July 1, up 77,357 from the previous year.

Riverside County was reporting a net gain of 66,664 residents from other U.S. counties; San Bernardino gained 32,517 and Kern got 10,731 people from other counties - a total gain of 109,912 residents last year.

Since April 1, 2000, 403,070 L.A. County residents left; Riverside, San Bernardino and Kern gained 367,323.

The San Fernando Valley, meanwhile, bucked the county trend, gaining a net 8,700 people from both international and domestic immigration last year, said Daniel Blake, a California State University, Northridge, economics professor and director of the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center.

He attributed the countertrend to greater job growth in the Valley - a 1.6 percent increase last year versus 0.65 percent countywide.

County residents moved out of Southern California entirely, too, largely in search of cheaper real estate, less congested roads and employment, to counties such as Maricopa, which includes Phoenix, and Clark County, which includes Las Vegas.

``On an aggregate, Riverside is the biggest gainer in domestic migrants, and L.A. County is the biggest loser in terms of domestic migrants,'' Frey said.

``People are leaving L.A. to go to Riverside, Las Vegas and Phoenix, then San Bernardino. It's affordability that's causing middle-class flights. People can't afford housing in Los Angeles, but want to stay in the Southwest and will commute long distances.''

Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said the chief factor for people leaving L.A. is ``housing affordability,'' and the largest potential economic impact is that they then take jobs in outlying areas.

``We're getting a little bit too expensive,'' Kyser said of the county, noting a similar trend in Orange County, where 27,590 residents left for other counties last year. ``The question is, Will they take jobs in other counties, or not?''

Increasingly, for example, professional service businesses like law, accounting or governmental affairs firms are moving farther from traditional urban cores like the city of Los Angeles, where business tax and other costs are high, to smaller cities like Ontario, he said.

L.A. also is a major port of entry for many immigrants who gain an economic toehold, then move on to other cities and states, inflating the extent of the county's outmigration, demographers said.

Florida also showed marked changes in population, recording 14 of the nation's 100 fastest-growing counties.

Beth Barrett, [phone]

beth.barrett(at)dailynews.com