Demographics

Over the past ten years, the total population of the six-county Sacramento Region has increased to almost 2.3 million people, a growth rate of 25 percent (more than eight percent above California’s rate of growth) and is forecasted to grow almost 20 percent over the next 10 years—double the projected statewide growth. An average of almost 70 percent of the Region’s annual population growth over the past five years can be attributed to net migration (the balance of people moving to and out of the Sacramento Region from within the United States, incoming foreign immigrants, and people moving out of the Region to live abroad).

A demographic measure that determines how many people are located within an area during normal business hours due to the population’s residence or work location is called daytime population. In 2000, the Sacramento Region counties with the highest change between resident population and daytime population due to employment and commuting patterns were Yolo County with a seven percent change in population and Sacramento County with over one percent change.

With the population growth seen in the Sacramento Region, the number of housing units naturally follows that increase. Total housing units in the Sacramento Region increased almost 25 percent in the last 10 years to nearly 870,000 total units, double California’s percentage change in the same time period.

Per capita income in the Region (almost $35,000 in 2005) has followed similar trends as the state over the past ten years at slightly over 50 percent growth.

This section offers data that demonstrate the continuous development of the Sacramento Region. Current and historical data show how the Region has grown in terms of number of people, housing units, and personal income. The topics covered in this section include total population, daytime population, net migration, population ethnicity, housing units, household composition, income, and population projections (from the California Department of Transportation, 2006 Long-Term Socio-Economic Forecasts by County).


 

Selected Sacramento region photos by Tom Myer's Photography. More Sacramento images can be seen at www.tommyersphotography.com