Cities Show Varying Growth Rates
With the census approaching in just two years, the state has released its population estimates for local cities, with Pasadena and Sierra Madre topping the percentage growth rate for the year.
Pasadena showed an increase of 1.1 percent, up to 148,126, while Sierra Madre increased 1.3 percent, to 11,116. Arcadia’s growth was .4 percent, increasing to 56,491. For Monrovia, the increase was .6 percent, to 39,327,
Duarte registered a decrease of .2 percent, down to 22,953. Bradbury did register a higher percentage increase, but it represented addition of 16 people, to a grand total of 948 persons and an undetermined number of horses.
Los Angeles, the state’s largest city, showed a 1.2 percent increase to top the four million mark, at 4,045,873. The fastest growing large city in the state was Sacramento, with a jump of 1.9 percent, and the fastest growing city of any size was San Joaquin, with an increase of 17 percent.
Glendale registered an increase of .6 percent, to 207,157, while Pomona went up 12.2 percent, to 163,405. Santa Monica increased to 91,439, while Beverly Hills went up to 35,983. Irwindale showed a 4.7 percent growth, largest in the county, to a total of 1,724.
Population in the state now tops 38 million people, with an increase of 490,000 in the past year. Imperial was the fastest growing county, at 2.7 percent, with Riverside a close second at 2.6 percent. Los Angeles County grew less than 1 percent, though with 10.3 million people it has more than a quarter of the total state population.
The report lists 478 cities, with 439 gaining population. The ten fastest growing cities are growing more slowly than they did the year before, though the four fastest growing cities in the state have doubled in size since the last census. They are Beaumont and Murrieta in Riverside County, Lincoln in Placer County and Brentwood in Contra Costa County.
According to the state, California’s housing growth showed a decline in 2007, reflecting the economic situation. The state added some 131,107 housing units during the year, the smallest increase since 2001. There were 67,266 single family units built, and 47,313 apartment units.
California is expecting about a 5 million per decade increase in population, to a total just under 60 million in 2050. Hispanics in the state will total 124.5 million by 2010, and Asians 4.6 million, according to the estimates. LA County population will be about half Hispanic by 2010.
The state population estimates are used to distribute state funding to cities and counties, and by cities to estimate their revenue limit.
By Charles Cooper