Believe it or not, Merced County's population is fastest growing in the state

Merced County's population rose in the past year by 1.8 percent outpacing every other county in the state, according to the California Department of Finance.

The county is dwarfed by a number of the state's largest counties, like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Fresno, so it doesn’t take many new residents in Merced County to tally the highest percentage.

The department on Tuesday released a report containing preliminary January 2018 and revised January 2017 population data for California cities, counties and the state.

Merced County has 279,977 residents, an increase of 4,807 more people than last year, the numbers show.

Atwater's population (31,235) rose by 1.8 percent, while Dos Palos (5,679) increased by 3.4 percent. Gustine tallied 5,874 people, a 1.6 percent increase, and Livingston's 14,328 was a rise of 2.5 percent. Los Banos had the single largest increase in Merced County (2.4 percent) to get to 40,986, while Merced (0.9 percent) now has 86,750 residents and the unincorporated parts of the county reached 95,125 with a 2.1 percent increase.

Sacramento’s population has topped 500,000 for the first time, and the city had the largest percentage gain in population among the 10 largest cities in the state, according to the California Department of Finance.

Sacramento is the sixth largest city in the state, growing to 501,344 residents, according to the report.

At 1.43 percent, or 7,000 residents, Sacramento had the largest population gain, edging San Diego (1.42 percent, or 20,000 residents) among the state’s biggest cities.

Placer County was among the three fastest-growing counties on a percentage basis, increasing 1.7 percent to 389,532 residents. Merced County was first followed by Placer and San Joaquin counties.

Rocklin was the fourth fastest growing city with a population over 30,000 in California last year, reaching 66,830 residents. Roseville added 2,563 residents, to 137,213, the most in Placer County.

California added 309,000 residents, growing its population to 39,810,000 residents as of Jan. 1, 2018. Growth was the strongest in the more densely populated counties in the Bay Area, the Central Valley and Southern California.

The report notes that of the state’s 482 cities, 421 saw population gains, 57 saw reductions and four experienced no change.

Other notable report findings:

Santa Rosa lost 3,081 housing units as a result of the 2017 wildfires. The city’s population did grow 0.2 percent to 178,488 because of an annexation of 2,000 housing units.

Los Angeles, the state’s largest city, grew by almost 33,000 people, putting its population at 4,054,4000. San Diego remains California's second-largest city with a population of 1,419.845. San Jose is the third city in the state to have more than a million people, at 1,052,316.

Rounding out the top six are San Francisco (883,963), Fresno (538,330) and Sacramento.

This story was originally published May 1, 2018 at 5:55 PM with the headline "Believe it or not, Merced County's population is fastest growing in the state."