Anyone want to take a guess what the 2020 population of Sacramento proper will be?

[LAsam]

Originally Posted by ozone

I do not think the city's population alone makes all that much difference with regard to clout or reputation. San Jose has more people than San Francisco but that's about it. In most people's mind San Francisco remains *the City.* Same sort of thing with Fresno vs Sacramento. And not just here. Look at Atlanta. It has a smaller in-city population than even Sacramento but wields more cultural influence in part because it's the hub for a larger metropolitan area.

Agreed. MSA population weighs heavier on perceived city influence than city population.

[otnemarcaS]

Not sure what the fascination is with city size. Yeah, it will be nice once Sacmento passes Fresno and becomes the fifth largest city in California. But in reality isn't the metro area more significant? Isn't Sac metro the fourth major metro in Calif after LA, SF Bay area and San Diego? Definitely more significant and larger than Fresno metro area.

Below are a few cities with lesser in-city populations than Sacramento but would most people know that?


Atlanta
Miami
Kansas City
Oakland
Cleveland
Minneapolis
New Orleans
Tampa
Honolulu
St Louis
Cincinnati
Pittsburgh
Orlando

[sacamenna kid]

Originally Posted by ozone

I do not think the city's population alone makes all that much difference with regard to clout or reputation. San Jose has more people than San Francisco but that's about it. In most people's mind San Francisco remains *the City.* Same sort of thing with Fresno vs Sacramento. And not just here. Look at Atlanta. It has a smaller in-city population than even Sacramento but wields more cultural influence in part because it's the hub for a larger metropolitan area.

Good points.

[NickB1967]

Originally Posted by otnemarcaS

Not sure what the fascination is with city size. Yeah, it will be nice once Sacmento passes Fresno and becomes the fifth largest city in California. But in reality isn't the metro area more significant? Isn't Sac metro the fourth major metro in Calif after LA, SF Bay area and San Diego? Definitely more significant and larger than Fresno metro area.

Below are a few cities with lesser in-city populations than Sacramento but would most people know that?


Atlanta
Miami
Kansas City
Oakland
Cleveland
Minneapolis
New Orleans
Tampa
Honolulu
St Louis
Cincinnati
Pittsburgh
Orlando

The problem with this is that in decades past you had a decaying central city surrounded by thriving suburban areas. Even assuming an urban renaissance, I think it is better to have one city rather than a smattering of them.

[wburg]

Some of those cities, like Cleveland and Minneapolis, St. Louis and Pittsburgh, used to be much larger than Sacramento but lost population in the last half of the 20th Century. Sacramento has never lost population decade to decade, we have only grown--even when the central city was being forcibly depopulated, the overall city population grew because we annexed surrounding areas (not as aggressively as San Jose, but the growth was still dramatic) and built new neighborhoods that became part of the city. Western cities like Sacramento grew most dramatically after World War II, and tended to grow out rather than up, unless they couldn't due to restrictions of their geography, like San Francisco.

[SacSFChi]

I know of many folk, like myself, moving from the Bay Area to Sacramento. Lots of articles touting SAC as the new CAL boom city. I live between Amtrak and Golden1, and am noticing an increase is pedestrian traffic on non-event days and evenings. I don't see how the population could NOT break 500K by 2020.

[UnclearColt]

Originally Posted by SacSFChi

I know of many folk, like myself, moving from the Bay Area to Sacramento. Lots of articles touting SAC as the new CAL boom city. I live between Amtrak and Golden1, and am noticing an increase is pedestrian traffic on non-event days and evenings. I don't see how the population could NOT break 500K by 2020.

Oh, so our rising rents are YOUR fault! kidding

[TWAK]

The areas within the SOI could be added because eventually those are to be added to the city. They sort of are already in the city....planning wise.

[kamehameha]

Sacramento proper already passed the 500k mark. Population is now at 501,344.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article210222499.html

[creamcityleo79]

Originally Posted by kamehameha

Sacramento proper already passed the 500k mark. Population is now at 501,344.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article210222499.html

Very exciting. If only housing development would keep up...

[ltsmotorsport]

Added up all the counties and our region is over the 2.5 million mark now as well. Good milestone to hit and shows that we're firmly in the mid-size region category and should compete for businesses and amenities with similarly sized regions (Portland, KC STL, Cincy, Charlotte, etc.). Just have to convince more large businesses like Centene to invest in our great region.

[Pistola916]

Probably looking at 505-510K by 2020 census

[urban_encounter]

The city has made it known in the past that there’s no fiscal incentive to annex older unincorporated areas of Sacramento when it would cost more to provide services than they would receive in revenue. That’s why Sacramento County effectively functions as a city in its own right by providing urban services.

[ozone]

According to Wikipedia Sacramento is estimated to have a population of 501,334. It's also the fastest growing city in California at moment.

[ltsmotorsport]

Yeah, this must be citing the recently-released DOF population estimates for all CA cities and counties, as discussed above.

[novatone82]

Can anybody estimate the population in 2025???????

[ozone]

It kind of gets to me that a city like Fresno has a larger population than Sacramento even though it's metro area is much smaller and the city itself doesn't even feel half as urban.

[snfenoc]

I've always wondered how that is possible. Maybe it's because Fresno is 14 square miles larger than Sacramento? I also consider the parkland along the American River: maybe it adds geographic size to the city without contributing much to the population. If the city annexed Arden-Arcade, its population would be significantly larger than Fresno's.

[ozone]

^^^ It has to be because of land size because Fresno is not a very dense city. But as urban encounter pointed out it's just not financially beneficial to the city to annex Arden-Arcade. Sacramento certainty isn't unique in this regard. Atlanta has less people within in their city limits but is the hub of a much larger metro area and the only real city in the State of Georgia.

[NickB1967]

Originally Posted by snfenoc

I've always wondered how that is possible. Maybe it's because Fresno is 14 square miles larger than Sacramento? I also consider the parkland along the American River: maybe it adds geographic size to the city without contributing much to the population. If the city annexed Arden-Arcade, its population would be significantly larger than Fresno's.

It is really quite simple. This is because Fresno has little or no "un-City", or developed but unincorporated urban or suburban area, around it. If I recall correctly, Sacramento County still has more people living in the "un-City" than in Sacramento City proper, even though recent incorporations of Citrus Heights, Elk Grove, and Rancho Cordova have significantly reduced the amount of "un-City" there is.

In Fresno County, almost everything urban or suburban is either:
1. The City Of Fresno, or
2. The smaller City Of Clovis next to it.