County Residents Are Bound Elsewhere : Population: DMV records show a net loss of drivers for the second year. Experts blame high housing prices, weak job market.

For the second year in a row, more licensed drivers moved out of Ventura County than moved in from other states and elsewhere in California.

Steep housing costs, a weak economy and growing concerns about gang violence have driven many residents to settle elsewhere and have discouraged others from taking up residency, demographers said.

“There’s no question that housing costs are driving part of Ventura County’s out-migration,” said Curtis Roseman, a geography professor at USC. “And even Ventura has developed enough big city-type problems that folks are retiring to Arizona.”

The statistics do not take into account births or foreign immigrants, so they cannot be used as hard evidence of a population drop.

But demographers said that the county’s net loss of licensed drivers suggests that its population growth has at least leveled off, if not declined.

State motor vehicle records showed that the number of drivers who left the county in the year ended June 30 exceeded the number of newcomers by 1,149.

That figure amounts to less than two-tenths of 1% of the spring, 1990, census population of 669,000, but the net loss in drivers jumped nearly 100% from the year before. Before 1989, Ventura County had posted a net gain every year since the state Department of Motor Vehicles began keeping such records in 1971.

California’s magnetism has faded with the recession, which has placed it among states with the highest unemployment. The recession also contributed to greater movement of individuals and families affected by layoffs. Overall, DMV records show, 68,000 drivers moved to and from Ventura County in the latest year of the study, compared with 49,000 four years ago.

“The drop-off (in licensed drivers) could be a function of the loss of our major plants,” said Larry Kennedy, manager of the state employment office in Simi Valley. “Northrop had 2,000 jobs and now it has none. Most people will stay in an area only so long.”

Along with lackluster employment prospects, a substantial repellent to newcomers has been the county’s median housing prices, which are among the highest in the state and nation.

At least two of the county’s Southland neighbors--Los Angeles and Orange counties--also came up net losers in the DMV study for the last year.

The influx of people fleeing Los Angeles kept Ventura County’s net loss from being much greater. A total of 15,648 Los Angeles County drivers moved to Ventura County during the year, compared to 10,423 who migrated the other way.

“The in-migration from Los Angeles County I would expect,” said Steve Wood, a senior county planner specializing in demographics and population forecasting. “That’s been traditionally fairly constant from one year to the next. Some of the out-migration could be attributable to retirees selling their homes and going to other states looking for cheaper housing.”

“Ventura lost population to virtually every other county in the state,” USC’s Roseman said. “It would have lost a lot more if it didn’t have Los Angeles as its one benefactor.”

The county also lost more drivers to other states for the second year in a row. A total of 9,935 drivers from Ventura County moved out of California during the year, and only 7,829 moved here from other states.

The states that gained the most drivers from Ventura County were, in order, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Florida. The states that sent the most drivers to Ventura County, and got fewest in return, were New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Michigan.

In California, Kern, San Diego, Riverside, Sacramento and San Luis Obispo counties drew more Ventura County drivers than they sent here. Aside from Los Angeles, the only county that Ventura outdrew significantly was Santa Barbara, which lost 67 drivers to its southern neighbor.

Camarillo City Manager J. William Little considers the migration pattern a testament to the county economy’s frailty. Within the last week, Little said he got notice that a local Clairol plant employing 70 people will be relocating to Connecticut and a 3M plant with 65 workers will be moving to Texas.

“We don’t live in isolation,” Little said. “When people in other areas read about our water problems, our high costs of housing and traffic gridlock, there might be a feeling that it’s not the place to come to, like it has been for the last 30 to 40 years.”

State employment statistics also suggest that the county’s population growth has ebbed. The California Employment Development Department put the civilian labor force at 384,600 in July, 1990, compared with 372,000 in July, 1991.

Such statistics only serve to illustrate that slow-growth policies are unwarranted in Ventura County, said Jim Barroca, executive vice president of the Greater Ventura Chamber of Commerce.

“There’s no real need to be so concerned because we’re not growing by leaps and bounds,” Barroca said.

California had a net gain of 36,400 drivers from other states, a figure Roseman said is also on the decline.

“The appeal of California is still fairly high, but the number of people leaving is greater,” Roseman said. “I think there’s no question that there’s not the relative attraction there used to be.”

Ventura County Migration

Here are the five states and California counties to gain the most immigrants from Ventura County in the year ended June 30, along with the number of people from those areas that moved into Ventura County. Moving OUT of Ventura County to / Moving INTO Ventura County from . . . Nevada Net Loss: -880 Moving OUT of Ventura County to / Moving INTO Ventura County from . . . Washington Net Loss: -580 Moving OUT of Ventura County to / Moving INTO Ventura County from . . . Oregon Net Loss: -553 Moving OUT of Ventura County to / Moving INTO Ventura County from . . . Arizona Net Loss: -425 Moving OUT of Ventura County to / Moving INTO Ventura County from . . . Florida Net Loss: -237 Moving OUT of Ventura County to / Moving INTO Ventura County from . . . Kern Net Loss: -705 Moving OUT of Ventura County to / Moving INTO Ventura County from . . . San Diego Net Loss: -416 Moving OUT of Ventura County to / Moving INTO Ventura County from . . . Riverside Net Loss: -362 Moving OUT of Ventura County to / Moving INTO Ventura County from . . . Sacramento Net Loss: -287 Moving OUT of Ventura County to / Moving INTO Ventura County from . . . San Luis Obispo Net Loss: -269 Source: California Department of Motor Vehicles