Los Angeles county, which is California’s 2nd most populous one, has 9,969,510 inhabitants as of 2021. There has actually been a very slight decline in the number of Angelinos since 2017, due in part to rising real-estate prices, rising taxes and the appeal of other metropolises for businesses. The population is down to where it was around 2010.
It’s still a vibrant city with arts, music, film and business cultivating an elaborate mystique of possibility that attracts any and all from around the globe. There is still a type of manifest destiny for some, even if disillusionment runs parallel to this.