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In 2018, the Golden State grew by 186,807 people, according to data released by the state last week. That’s about two Los Angeles Memorial Coliseums, or almost 10 Oracle Arenas full of new Californians.

Sounds like a lot, right?

If you caught this Los Angeles Times headline, you already know the plot twist: That number actually represents the slowest growth in the state’s entire history, a meager 0.47 percent increase over the year before.

It brought the state’s total population as of Jan. 1 to 39.9 million, just shy of the 40 million that Tina Daley, who heads demographic research for the state’s department of finance, told me that her office was tentatively predicting earlier this year.

The anemic increase isn’t great; economists will tell you that a stagnant or declining work force makes it tough to sustain economic growth. But when I checked in with Ms. Daley again on Thursday, she said it wasn’t surprising.

Ms. Daley said declining births and rising numbers of deaths aren’t new, as baby boomers age and young people around the world wait longer or decide not to have children. And the people who are moving to California, from other states and abroad, tend to have higher education levels, which is correlated with fewer births.

Also, she said, high costs of living mean California has been losing residents to other states.

[Read the full report here.]

What was unexpected, Ms. Daley said, was the degree of slowing in migration from other countries.

“What we’re seeing is it’s decreasing a little bit more than we had thought it would,” she said.

Still, H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the department, emphasized that the slow growth should not be taken as a sign that the state can take its foot off the gas when it comes to housing development.

The estimates showed the state netted just 77,000 new units, which falls far short of the 200,000 units the department estimated the state needs to add each year. It is also well below the pace that would be necessary to build the 3.5 million homes Gov. Gavin Newsom has said California needs by 2025.

“The affordability issue is pervasive throughout the state, but particularly urban areas,” Mr. Palmer said. “We’ve been historically behind the curve in terms of keeping up with population growth.”

And some communities are still growing relatively rapidly.

Some of that can be traced to the devastation wrought by wildfires. Chico, for instance, was the state’s fastest-growing city with a population over 30,000 last year. It notched a 20.7 percent jump, largely because of an influx of displaced Paradise residents.

But Ms. Daley noted that among the state’s 10 largest cities, the fastest growing were Sacramento, which grew by about 1.5 percent, with 7,400 new residents, and Bakersfield, which added 4,300 people for a 1.1 percent gain.

That, she said, lines up with broader shifts in the state away from pricey coastal communities to less expensive inland cities.

[Read more about which California cities have the biggest shares of young people and why.]

Here’s what else we’re following

(We often link to sites that limit access for nonsubscribers. We appreciate your reading Times stories, but we’d also encourage you to support local news if you can.)

• A new report found that human activity is so profoundly changing the world that as many as one million plant and animal species are at risk of extinction. But biodiversity isn’t a virtue for its own sake. It’s also a threat to trade, infrastructure and human life itself. [The New York Times]

• “You’ll always hear, ‘There’s no way a woman can win this,’ and they go back to Hillary.” Female Democratic presidential candidates in a vastly crowded field are facing comparisons to Hillary Clinton. It’s sexist, some say, and is opening paths for less qualified candidates. [The New York Times]

• And Senator Kamala Harris pushed back against nebulous descriptions of what makes someone electable in the Midwest: “But when they say that, they usually put the Midwest in a simplistic box and a narrow narrative,” Ms. Harris said at an N.A.A.C.P. dinner in Detroit. “And too often, their definition of the Midwest leaves people out. It leaves out people in this room who helped build cities like Detroit.” [The New York Times]

• Tainted drinking water in the state’s prisons has harmed inmates who have suffered from Legionnaires’ disease and other serious health problems. The issues have cost taxpayers millions in lawsuits and bottled water. [The Sacramento Bee]

• The holy month of Ramadan started on Sunday night. Some mosques have stepped up security amid a rise in what officials have described as hate-motivated attacks. [ABC7]

• With major companies racing to file for I.P.O.’s, the state’s budget writers are anticipating a potential windfall. But there are questions about what to do with the money. And about restraint, since lawmakers would like to avoid a situation like the dot-com bubble. [The Associated Press]

• In coffee shops throughout the Golden State, adding CBD to a latte is about as easy as adding an extra shot of espresso. But elsewhere in the country, possession of CBD oil can get you arrested. That disconnect is a growing source of tension. [The New York Times]

On the lighter side

• For Californians who have sought fortunes in the legal green gold rush, “How do I tell my parents I sell weed?” has become something of a pressing question. (Even if they’re more likely than ever to be using cannabis products.) [The New York Times]

• Good news if you can’t afford a $2,300-a-night hotel stay at the Nobu Ryokan in Malibu: It’s actually kind of stressful. [The New York Times]

• The outfits were outrageous, but were they camp? Judge for yourself in this slide show of looks from the Met Gala. (It’s where most of the Hollywood celebrities you love and love to hate were on Monday night.) [The New York Times]

And Finally …

It’s long been popular among certain Angelenos to look down on Orange County as some kind of homogeneous cultural and culinary backwater.

But anyone who’s spent time in Santa Ana, Costa Mesa, Irvine, Anaheim, Laguna Beach or Garden Grove knows the food offerings there are vast and diverse.

Of course, much like in its neighboring county to the north, geography can be something of a limiting factor.

Fortunately, The Orange County Register just debuted its 75 Best Restaurants list, and it has a map. So whether you’re looking for a luxurious Korean feast or some of the best tacos in the Southland, there’s inspiration.

California Today goes live at 6:30 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: [email protected]. Were you forwarded this email? Sign up for California Today here.

Jill Cowan grew up in Orange County, went to school at U.C. Berkeley and has reported all over the state, including the Bay Area, Bakersfield and Los Angeles — but she always wants to see more. Follow along here or on Twitter, @jillcowan.

California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.

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