DOWNEY - The city of Downey's population increased 0.6% to 113,715, up from 113,053 last year, according to a report released last week by the California Department of Finance.The population estimates are produced annually by the department for use by local agencies to calculate their annual appropriations limit. The State Controller's Office also uses the estimates to update their payment population figures for distribution of state subventions to cities and counties. California added 393,000 new residents in 2009, putting the state's Jan. 1 population total at 38.648 million, according to the report. The city of Fresno topped 500,000 in population during 2009. More than 7,000 new residents were added in the calendar year, putting the city's population at 502,303, which ranks the Central Valley city as California's fifth largest. Fresno's growth during the year was driven by the addition of 1,319 housing units. California's statewide housing growth last year reflects the downturn in the housing industry by only adding 62,385 housing units. In fact, the report shows a steady reduction in residential construction since the peak year of 2005, when the state added 197,477 new units. The decline in single-family detached homes continued in the current year as well, decreasing by 40 percent from last year. In 2008 the state added 39,596 single-family homes, but only 23,637 were built in 2009. Los Angeles has reached a population of 4,094,764, growing by more than 44,000 persons last year, a rate more than twice the growth of California's second largest city, San Diego. San Diego now has a population of 1,376,173, adding more than 17,000 persons during the year. The city of Colfax in Placer County ranked as the fastest growing city in California, increasing by 5.7 percent. The next four fastest growing cities were Beaumont, Sand City, Coachella and Oakley. Of the 480 California cities listed in the report, 445 showed gains in population, five experienced no change and 30 lost population. Oxnard also reached a landmark in the report: with 200,004 residents, Oxnard became the 21st California city to exceed 200,000 in population. Locally, the cities of Huntington Park (-0.2), Irwindale (-.0.2) and South Gate (-0.5) saw decreases in population.

********** Published: May 7, 2010 - Volume 9 - Issue 3