Merced County sees its population rise

Like many cities across the state, all six of Merced County’s cities added residents in the past year, state officials said Monday.

The county added 2,299 people to top out at a population of 271,579. The city of Merced grew by more than 800 to reach 83,962, while Los Banos tallied 689 more residents to reach 39,359.

The growth of homes has not kept pace, with the county adding 253 homes.

Porterville was the fastest-growing city in California last year, and Clovis, which was one of the fastest-growing cities in 2014, cracked the top 10 again.

But the two cities were in the top 10 of cities of more than 30,000 for different reasons.

Porterville’s population grew by more than 3,000 residents, but about 90 percent of them were annexed into the city from six county “islands” during 2015, according to figures from the Tulare County Local Agency Formation Commission.

By contrast, nearly all of the 2.6 percent growth in Clovis was from new homes, and much of that housing increase was in the Loma Vista neighborhood near Clovis East High School, said City Manager Robert Woolley.

Clovis’ population is now 108,039, moving it to the state’s 64th largest city from 67th, according to the state records.

“We’re anticipating the growth to continue at even a higher pace for the balance of this year,” said Woolley. “There’s a lot of dirt being moved in Clovis right now.”

The city, he said, also is focusing on job growth, noting the announcement of the California Health Sciences University proposal on 70 acres north of Clovis Community Medical Center.

Fresno remains the state’s fifth-largest city with 520,453 residents, a 0.8 percent population rise last year. Also among the fastest-growing towns in Fresno County were Parlier and Sanger, which each grew by 2.4 percent.

Visalia expanded by 1.4 percent to a population of 130,231. Visalia is California’s 45th-largest city. In Kings County, Hanford stayed nearly flat, with 0.9 percent growth to 55,840. Madera grew by 1 percent to 65,474.

Central San Joaquin Valley cities that lost population, Avenal and Chowchilla, were most significantly affected by their state prisons, whose inmates are considered residents in the communities where they are imprisoned.

Avenal’s population fell to 12,373, or by 5 percent. Avenal State Prison’s population dropped by 778. Chowchilla, which has men’s and women’s prisons, lost a total of 415 inmates. Its population fell to 18,547, or 1.3 percent.

Mariposa County also fell by 0.1 percent, dropping to 18,159 residents.

This story was originally published May 2, 2016 at 5:34 PM with the headline "Merced County sees its population rise."