By Mike Harris Tuesday, February 24th, 2026

Ventura County will see anemic economic growth for the foreseeable future.

That’s according to the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting’s 2026 Ventura County outlook unveiled Feb. 24 at the Scherr Forum Theatre in downtown Thousand Oaks.

“There’s little change in the forecast from a year ago in that we’re anticipating anemic growth in Ventura County,” CERF’s executive director, Matthew Fienup, told the Business Times.

“Positive growth, but very, very slow growth,” Fienup, who presented the three-year Ventura County forecast at the annual event, said.

Highlights of the forecast include:

• The education and healthcare sector will continue to drive most of the job growth, implying a county-wide compositional effect of growth in relatively low-paying jobs, which also contributes to anemic GDP growth.
• The lack of housing, combined with the dominance of growth in low-paying jobs, continue to generate domestic outflows of workers, households and companies from Ventura County.
• The domestic outflows imply anemic population and GDP for the foreseeable future.

CERF is located at Thousand Oaks-based California Lutheran University’s satellite campus in Westlake Village.