Tracy’s Growth Slows but Lathrop Picks Up Slack

By Hank Shaw, The Record, Stockton, Calif.

May 2–SACRAMENTO — For the first time this decade, Tracy has essentially stopped growing.

New population estimates released Tuesday by the state Department of Finance showed that Tracy’s population gained only 32 people from 2006 to 2007 — marking the end of a run for what had been one of California’s fastest-growing cities.

Overall, Tracy’s population has increased by more than 41 percent since 2000, but a slump in the housing market combined with recent slow-growth policies within the city have halted that trend.

Lathrop has taken its place: The city of 16,400 grew 12.7 percent last year, faster than all but four other cities in California. Beaumont, in Riverside County, topped the list.

As a whole, San Joaquin County added about 11,400 people last year, bringing the county’s total to about 679,600. This is a markedly slower rate of growth than the county had been seeing in recent years; the last time San Joaquin’s growth rate was slower was in 1998.

But the boom has had its effect: One in five current county residents moved here since 2000.

Calaveras County’s population, now 46,000, has increased by more than 13 percent since 2000. Amador County’s population has remained constant, at about 38,000.

California’s total population increased by nearly 500,000 people last year and is now about 37.7 million. Overall growth has remained steady in recent years.

The Finance Department uses a variety of sources to make its population estimates, including birth and death counts, driver’s license information, housing unit data, school enrollments and federal income tax returns.

Contact Capitol Bureau Chief Hank Shaw at (916) 441-4078 or sacto@recordnet.com.

—–

Copyright (c) 2007, The Record, Stockton, Calif.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.