Manteca added 2,759 residents last year for the 14th largest numeric population gain for California’s 482 cities.

That gain that brought Manteca’s population to 83,781 residents as of Jan. 1, 2019, represents a 38 percent larger growth in population than in 2017 when the city added 1,996 residents.

That means Manteca’s population has more than doubled in the past 29 years. The city had 40,773 residents in 1990. Manteca is six times larger than it was in 1970 when it had 13,284 residents — 3,329 less residents than Ripon’s current population of 16,613 residents.

The numbers are gleaned from population estimates released Wednesday by the state Department of Finance as of Jan. 1, 2019.

The fastest growing area in the Northern San Joaquin Valley is the South County and the four cities whose economies are becoming more tied into the Bay Area via freeway umbilical cords with each passing year.

The cities of Manteca, Tracy, Lathrop, and Ripon added 6,275 residents in 2018. That jump compares to an increase of 4,464 people in 2017. The four cities have a combined population of 218,130 or 2,929 more than Modesto’s 215,201 residents that ranks it as California’s 19th largest city. Stockton is the largest city in the Northern San Joaquin Valley and 13th statewide with 316,410 people.

The three county Northern San Joaquin Valley — San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Merced counties — added 21,474 residents with San Joaquin growing by 13,106, Stanislaus by 4,864, and Merced by 3,504. Stockton added 2,508 and Modesto grew by 1,827.

The three-county region has a combined population of 1,612,285.  If the Northern San Joaquin Valley were a separate state it would rank 40th based on population. It would be ahead of Hawaii, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Montana, Delaware, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont and Wyoming plus the District of Columbia.

California as a whole is still by far the most populous state in the union with 39,927,315 residents having grown 0.5 percent in 2018 to grow the population by 187,807. At the current rate, the Golden State will surpass 40 million residents by July 1.

Wednesday’s Department of Finance release noted in 2018:

Manteca added the highest number of new residents in the Northern San Joaquin Valley with a 2,759 gain. That topped Stockton that added 2,508 residents, Tracy that added 1,968, Lodi that added 1,230, Lathrop that added 1,255, Merced that added 1,189, Turlock that added 492, Oakdale that added 394, and Ripon that added 323. Eleven of the 100 fastest growing cities are in the three-county Northern San Joaquin Valley region while six of the top 100 for numeric gain are also located here.

Stockton is the largest city in the 209 at 316,410 followed by Modesto at 215,201, Tracy at 92,800, Merced at 87,110, Manteca fifth at 83,781, Turlock at 74,471, and Lodi at 68,272.

Lathrop was the 7th fastest growing city in California percentage wise growing 5.17 percent by adding 1,258 residents. Manteca was the 18th fastest growing city in the state, Livingston the 20th, Los Banos the 32nd, Tracy the 44th, Ripon the 51st, Lodi the 54th, Oakdale the 59th, Atwater the 67th, Patterson the 71st, and Merced the 79th.

Manteca is now the 103rd largest city out of 482 statewide up from 112th in 2017.

Manteca at is current growth rate will top 100,000 residents in 2026. If that happens, Manteca will have quadrupled in size in 47 years. The city’s population in 1980 was 23,150 residents or 1,786 less residents than Lathrop is at today at 24,936..

Lathrop at its current growth rate will top 36,000 residents in 2027.

Ripon at its current growth rate will top 20,000 residents in 2029.

The top 10 cities in the entire 209 region including valley and foothill cities are, in descending order, Stockton, Modesto, Tracy, Merced, Manteca, Turlock, Lodi, Ceres, Los Banos, and Atwater.

Other highlights from a state Department of Finance press release based on the population growth is as follows:

uThe Camp Fire in Butte County was the most destructive wildfire in California history, with over 14,600 housing units destroyed. The fire destroyed almost 90 percent of the housing stock and displaced 83 percent of the population in the Town of Paradise, which suffered the loss of 11,371 housing units. The majority of the displaced persons relocated to the surrounding cities of Chico and Oroville, each adding more than 20 percent to their total populations.

With a population of 112,000, Chico saw the largest numeric change in the state, adding over 19,000 persons. With a population of 508,000 persons, Sacramento added over 7,400 persons.  San Diego (1,421,000) added 6,200 persons, followed by Irvine (280,000) adding 6,100 persons.  Santa Clarita (218,000) rounds out the top five cities by numeric growth with 5,700 new residents due to a large annexation from Los Angeles County.

Throughout the state, more than 23,700 housing units were demolished in 2018, with wildfires heavily influencing a number of areas. The counties with most housing loss due to fire include Butte (14,600), Shasta (900), Ventura (700), and Lake (300). The City of Malibu in Los Angeles County also lost close to 500 housing units due to wildfire.

In terms of population growth from housing production not related to wildfires, the top five cities include: Lathrop (5.2 percent) in San Joaquin County, San Juan Bautista (4.8 percent) in San Benito County, Dublin (4.4 percent) in Alameda County, Irwindale (4.1 percent) in Los Angeles County, and Beaumont (4.0 percent) in Riverside County.

California’s statewide housing growth, as measured by net unit growth in completed housing units for 2018, was 77,000 units. Total housing in California reached 14,235,000 units, a 0.6- percent increase.

u2018’s population growth rate of 0.47 percent is the slowest in the State’s history. This rate is driven by a significant decline in births, down by more than 18,000 over the previous year, as well and data reflecting lower student enrollment.  Deaths continued an upward trend seen since 2010 as California’s “Baby Boomers” continue to age.

Of the ten largest cities in California, Sacramento had the largest percentage gain in population (1.49 percent, or 7,400) with Bakersfield (1.11 percent, or 4,300) a distant second.

Of the 14,235,000 housing units in California, 9,186,000 are single family and 4,490,000 are multi-family with 560,000 mobile homes.  Multi-family housing growth outpaced single family housing by over 1,900 net units (“net” refers to new construction minus demolition), narrowing the difference from previous years but continuing a seven-year trend.  Los Angeles led the state with 12,217 multi-family units, comprising 73.9 percent of their total housing growth, followed by San Diego (3,648 for 81.0 percent), San Francisco (2,277 for 99.5 percent), and Irvine (1,439 for 42.5 percent).

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com