The City of Lathrop is hoping that its location, its growth, and its demographics will make it an attractive target for the amenities that residents deserve.

In an economic development update delivered to the Lathrop City Council on Monday, the City of Lathrop included the promotional materials that were handed out at the International Council of Shopping Centers convention last month in San Diego.

According to those materials, Lathrop is the fastest growing city in the entire state with a population over 30,000 people and ranked second in single family housing unit growth and in total housing unit growth.

With 31,331 residents and an average household income of just over $97,000, Lathrop is hoping that the contacts made last month in San Diego will help attract businesses that can cater to the city’s growing population and unique demographics – exemplified by the pending arrival of a Sprout’s Farmers Market grocery store.

And the growth isn’t even close to being done.

With 16,860 homes already approved for River Islands and the Stanford Crossing master planned communities, Lathrop’s residential population is expected to explode in the coming years as those homes are constructed – drastically changing the makeup and the dynamics of what was previously known as a sleepy town.

Coupled with the city’s unique location along California’s main arterial interstate highway and its close proximity to the turnoff for the San Francisco Bay Area – and the fact that just under 1 million people live within a 30-minute drive from Lathrop – the city is hoping that the recent growth and planned future growth will help attract commercial opportunities while at the same time securing even more employment opportunities for residents.

Dubbed LathropSMART, the marketing campaign is part of the city’s ongoing effort to attract commercial and industrial development to help augment the city’s burgeoning residential sector. A page for LathropSMART on the city’s website lists the 15,010 homes that are coming to River Islands and the 1,850 homes that are coming to Stanford Crossing as part of the development and opportunity sites for prospective companies looking to potentially become part of the Lathrop community.

Through August of this year Lathrop saw 561 new homes sold in River Islands and Stanford Crossing – 397 in River Islands, 164 in Stanford Crossing – and the city has issued a total of 886 new housing permits through the first nine of months of this year. At the current rate, the city would nearly match 1,122 permits that were issued in 2021.

For additional information, or to obtain the economic development documents that were outlined in the presentation on Monday night, visit the City of Lathrop’s website at www.ci.lathrop.ca.us.