The Marin economy is staring three core structural challenges in the face that must be addressed to ensure continued prosperity for the next generation. First, our county has a rapidly aging population. Despite the pandemic-induced influx of young families relocating to the natural beauty of Marin, our median age continues to tick up, increasing from 47.
1 years old in 2020 to 48.1 years old in 2023, according to U.S.
Census Bureau data. This makes Marin the state’s oldest county among those with a population of 250,000 or more. By contrast, the median age in California is 37.
2. Second, our North Bay region consistently lags the state of California and other comparable regions in net new job creation. In 2022, the North Bay was dead last among large regions around the state, in terms of regional job growth.
If you separate Marin out from the rest of the North Bay counties, the picture does not improve. Over the past 10 years, according to data from the California Employment Development Department, while California grew jobs by 6.3%, Marin lost 3.
7% of the jobs located in our community. Third, official forecasts from the California Department of Finance project a greater than 6% decline in Marin’s population from the start to the end of the 2020 decade. Taken together, these three demographic and economic trends should cause alarm for all Marin residents.
There are massive implications for our future, from an eroding tax base to the shuttering of schools to the lack of econ.