SACRAMENTO California added 409,000 new residents in 2008 to a total population of 38,293,000 as of January 1st, 2009, according to new city and county population data released today by the state Department of Finance.
The report shows preliminary January 2009, as well as revised January 2008, population data for the cities. Highlights include:
The City of San Jose exceeded 1 million in population in 2008, adding 21,585 new residents during the year. As of January 1, 2009, Finance estimates that San Jose has a population of 1,006,892, making it the tenth city in the United States to exceed 1 million persons. San Jose's growth during the year was driven by the addition of 3,839 new housing units, almost equally split between the annexing of 1,902 existing housing units and the construction of 1,937 new residences.
The City of Riverside also reached a landmark in this report. With 300,430 residents, Riverside became the 12th California city to exceed 300,000.
Fresno has replaced Long Beach as the state's fifth largest city. Fresno was estimated to have 495,913 residents, while Long Beach came in with a population of 492,682.
The City of Los Angeles, California's largest city, has reached a population of 4,065,585. Los Angeles grew by over 43,000 persons during the year which is more than twice the growth of California's second largest city, San Diego. San Diego now has a population of 1,353,993 and added over 20,000 persons during the year.
Sand City in Monterey County (population 312) was the state's fastest growing city on a percentage basis, increasing by 4.7 percent. The next four fastest growing cities were Albany in Alameda County (4.5 percent), Calipatria in Imperial County (4.5 percent), Tehachapi in Kern County (4.4 percent), and Woodlake in Tulare County (4.1 percent). Over the past two years, Sand City, Albany, and Woodlake added a proportionally large number of new housing units relative to their overall population sizes. Calipatria and Tehachapi's growth came about from both an increase in prison population and housing unit growth.
The biggest numeric increases typically occurred in some of the state's largest cities Los Angeles (43,135), San Jose (21,585), San Diego (20,376), Fresno (10,578), and San Francisco (10,195).
California's housing growth continued a recent trend by declining once again from the previous year. Since peaking in 2005, when the state was estimated to have added 197,707 new housing units, there has been a steady reduction in residential construction. In 2006, the state added 172,604 units; in 2007, there were 131,912 units built, then last year only 86,745 were constructed the smallest change since 1998.
The most notable decline occurred in single-family detached homes, with a current year decrease of 70-percent from the decade peak in 2005, and a 65-percent drop from 2006. There was a net increase of 132,355 single family detached homes in 2005, 113,604 in 2006, 69,231 in 2007, and only 39,595 last calendar year.
The 2009 report lists 480 California cities, of which 453 had gains in population, five experienced no change, and 20 lost population.
Two new incorporations occurred in Riverside County in 2008. Wildomar incorporated in July, with a current population estimated to be 31,321, and Menifee incorporated in October with an estimated population of 67,705.
There are now 69 cities in California with a population exceeding 100,000. Mission Viejo in Orange County (100,242) and Rialto in San Bernardino County (100,022) now exceed 100,000 in population.
Since the April 1, 2000 census, the top four fastest growing California cities all have more than doubled in size, including Lincoln in Placer County (258 percent), Beaumont and Murrieta in Riverside County (185 percent and 127 percent respectively), and Brentwood in Contra Costa County (123 percent).
http://www.dof.ca.gov/research/demographic/reports/estimates/e-1/2008-09/
