Manteca, 25 years ago, with a population of 62,691 was the 146th largest out of 482 cities in California.

The Family City is now the state’s 82nd largest municipality with 93,733 residents as of Jan. 1, according to the California Department of Finance.

California now has 483 cities after Mountain House incorporated on July 1 of last year as San Joaquin County’s eighth city.

Lathrop was the fastest growing city in San Joaquin County with a 4 percent gain in population to reach 38,596 residents. Lathrop was the 9th fastest growing city in California.

Manteca continues a streak extending more than a decade as being the San Joaquin County city with the largest year-to-year population gain.

The city added 1,617 residents making it the county’s second fastest growing city and 75th fastest growing in the state. Lathrop added 1,494 residents in 2024.

Only one other city gained population in San Joaquin County. That was Lodi that added 591 people to push its population to 67,953.

Every other city in the county dropped slightly in population. Included was Ripon that lost 1.3 percent of its population going from 15,966 to 15,753.

Manteca became California’s 100th largest city with a population of 84,800 in 2020. It was the 103rd largest city in 2018 and 116th largest in 2017.

 While Manteca is now the state’s 82nd largest city, Tracy is the 78th largest and Lathrop the 210th largest.

California’s population grew by 108,000 persons in calendar year 2024 to reach 39,529,000 people as of Jan. 1, 2025 according to new data reported Thursday by the California Department of Finance. 

The 0.28-percent increase marks the second consecutive year of population growth since the p Pandemic and reflects the combination of several principal factors:

*Higher 2024 K-8 enrollment of 13,890 compared to 2023.

*An increase in the 65-and-older population of 25,298 people in 2024, up from 6,622,031 people reported last year.

*Natural increase—the net result of births minus deaths—contributed 114,805 to overall population growth in 2024, largely in line with the growth of 105,550 in 202

*More data sources to better estimate California’s share of recent increases in legal immigration to the U.S. from 2021 to 2024, showing 277,468 more immigrants to the state during this period than in the 2023 estimate.

 Other highlights of the population report include

*California’s 58 counties range in size from Alpine County, with just over 1,170 residents, to Los Angeles County with 9.9 million residents. 

*The population increased in 35 counties, with most growth in the Central Valley, the Inland Empire, and coastal counties. Population gains reflect natural increase exceeding losses in net total migration.

*The state’s ten largest counties remain Los Angeles, San Dieg10 ten counties with one million or more people have positive population growth, leaving Contra Costa as the only county with a very small population loss of 24 people. Los Angeles led with an increase of 28,000 persons. 

*Population growth rates ranged from a high of 2.88 percent in Lassen County to a low of -1.58 percent in Mono County. The next five largest in percentage growth were Glenn (1.35 percent), Fresno (0.87 percent), Sutter (0.83 percent), Imperial (0.81 percent), and Tulare (0.73 percent).

*Statewide housing grew at 0.84 percent in 2024, virtually unchanged from 0.85 in 2023. California added 125,228 housing units on net, including 26,648 Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), to bring total housing stock to 14,949,001 units. New construction added 118,957 housing units with 70,694 single family housing units, 53,543 multi-family housing units, and 991 mobile homes. ADUs are included in the single-family category and comprised 37.7 percent of the state’s new single-family housing and 21.3 percent of total new housing.

*The top five cities where housing production drove population growth include: Huron (7.9 percent housing growth and 8.0 percent population growth) in Fresno County, Paradise (10.3 percent and 7.8 percent) in Butte County, Shafter (4.9 percent and 4.7 percent) in Kern County, Winters (5.2 percent and 4.1 percent) in Yolo County, and Lathrop (5.6 percent and 4.0 percent) in San Joaquin County.

*241 cities gained population, while 240 lost population and one (Morro Bay in San Luis Obispo County) had no change.

*Mountain House, in San Joaquin County, is California’s newest city, incorporating in July 2024. As of January 2025, Mountain House had an official population of 28,795 and became California’s 483rd city.

*Of the ten largest cities in California, seven gained population: Led by Bakersfield (1.16 percent, or 4,787) and San Diego (1.05 percent, or 14,620). 

*Accessory Dwelling Unit production increased by 14.3 percent, with the state adding 26,648 ADUs in 2024. In 2023, the state added 22,802 ADUs, a 10-percent increase over the previous year.

* The City of Merced in Merced County grew by 5.3 percent due to the annexation of the University of California Merced into the city (4,000 students).  

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com