Merced County continues to grow about as fast as the state

Merced County’s six cities grew — some faster than others — last year, according to state analysts.

The county grew by 1.1 percent and topped out at 274,665, adding more than 3,000 residents to Merced County, according to a report released Monday by the state Department of Finance.

The biggest gain was in Los Banos, which added 639 people to reach a population of 39,993. Merced tallied 84,464 people, 509 more than last year, the Department of Finance reported.

The county’s third-largest city, Atwater, reached a population of 30,406, adding 347 since last year. Livingston (13,947), Gustine (5,886) and Dos Palos (5,391) added fewer than 100 people each.

Although housing production was up last year, the state still did not meet the estimated need for units to accommodate the rise in population, analysts said.

In the central San Joaquin Valley, Stanislaus County saw the highest increase in new home-building, up by 75 percent compared to 2015, according to Greg Gross, director of Metrostudy’s Central Valley region. Merced was up 59 percent, while Kings rose by 42 percent, according to Metrostudy numbers from the first quarter of the year.

“Still, annual starts were down 9 percent in both Kern and Fresno counties, suggesting demand is beginning to stabilize in the more expensive markets, and picking up in the more affordable markets,” Gross said.

The Department of Finance said last month that Merced is projected to be one of the fastest-growing counties in the state. UC Merced’s plans for growth and a higher-than-average birth rate in Merced County play into that growth, analysts said.

The statewide population rose to 39.5 million in 2016.

The report shows the state added more than 300,000 residents last year with the largest increases in big cities.

Los Angeles grew by more than 40,000 people and now is home to more than 4 million. San Diego, San Jose and San Francisco also saw significant population gains. Sacramento grew by the largest percentage of the 10 biggest California cities.

Cities with the largest declines in population percentage all saw decreases due to the loss of group living quarters such as prisons, college dormitories and military barracks.

California added nearly 90,000 new housing units. The total number of units in California now exceeds 14 million.

The state’s Department Housing and Community Development estimates that to meet the overall housing need the state has to add 180,000 new units annually, roughly twice the number completed last year.

California has some of the highest home prices in the country, in part because of an overall shortfall in available units. The average California home costs about two and a half times as much as the average national home, and the average monthly rent in the state is 50 percent higher than the rest of the country, according to a Legislative Analyst’s Office report from 2015.

This story was originally published May 1, 2017 at 4:28 PM with the headline "Merced County continues to grow about as fast as the state."