This small city is the fastest-growing in California

San Francisco Chronicle​

08-05-2025

Among the almond orchards, grapevines and alfalfa fields alongside State Route 99 is California's fastest growing city with more than 20,000 people: Shafter, California.
According to a state report released this week, the population of Shafter, a Central Valley city just north of Bakersfield, grew by 4.7% — about 1,000 people — between Jan. 2024 and Jan. 2025, the most of any city in California with more than 20,000 people whose population gains did not come from college dormitory populations.
Shafter's boost was largely driven by an increase in housing, according to John Boyne, a research data specialist with the California Department of Finance, which compiled the report. With 309 new housing units built in 2024, Shafter was also one of the fastest growing cities in the state in terms of housing. All of the added units were single family homes, Boyne said.

The majority-Hispanic town is, like many Central Valley cities, an agricultural hub. But it is also home to an industrial park owned by the Wonderful Company (of pistachio and pomegranate juice fame) that houses distribution centers for large companies like Walmart, Target and Amazon — with plans to expand. The city has grown significantly over the last decade and a half, going from about 17,000 people in 2010 to just under 23,500 as of January this year.

Shafter's growth was part of an overall growth trend in California's Central Valley and inland areas. Several other cities in the Central Valley saw notable growth, including Lathrop and Patterson. (Merced and Folsom also showed large gains, but Merced's was due to the city annexing the UC Merced, incorporating its on campus students into the city's population, and Folsom's growth was due to increases in the state prison population there.)
And of the ten largest cities in California, Bakersfield gained the most population, though the increase was slight at just over 1%. And Fresno and Kern counties were first and second in terms of year-over-year population growth among California counties with more than 500,000 people.
But not all of the Central Valley saw gains. Wasco, which is less than 10 miles away from Shafter, lost nearly as many residents as Shafter gained. Boyne described this as 'a tale of two cities.'
While Shafter added housing, Wasco lost it, he said — it had a net loss of 163 housing units due to the demolition of 226 multi-family units as a part of a multi-year affordable housing project. On top of that, Wasco's population was also impacted by decreases in the prison population at Wasco State Prison, Boyne said.
Some Bay Area cities were among the fastest growing as well. Belmont, American Canyon and Burlingame, which are all around the same size as Shafter in terms of population, were all in the top 10 fastest growing cities by population, and each saw notable increases in housing supply between 2024 and 2025.