Sacramento, California

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Sacramento, California is the capital city of the state of California in the US. It is also the county seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 population of 524,943[1] makes it the fourth-most populous city in Northern California, sixth-most populous city in the state, and the ninth-most populous state capital in the United States.[2][3] Sacramento is the seat of the California Legislature and the Governor of California.

Sacramento is also the cultural and economic core of the Greater Sacramento area, which at the 2020 census had a population of 2,680,831,[4] the fourth-largest metropolitan area in California.[5]

Before the arrival of the Spanish, the area was inhabited by the Nisenan, Maidu, and other indigenous peoples of California. Spanish cavalryman Gabriel Moraga surveyed and named the Río del Santísimo Sacramento (Sacramento River) in 1808, after the Blessed Sacrament. In 1839, Juan Bautista Alvarado, Mexican governor of Alta California, granted the responsibility of colonizing the Sacramento Valley to Swiss-born Mexican citizen John Augustus Sutter, who subsequently established Sutter's Fort and the settlement at the Rancho Nueva Helvetia. Following the American Conquest of California and the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, the waterfront developed by Sutter began to be developed and incorporated in 1850 as the City of Sacramento. In 1852, the city offered its county courthouse to the state of California to house the state legislature, resulting in the city becoming the permanent state capital in 1854 and ushering in the construction of a new state capitol building which was finished in 1874.[6]

Sacramento is the fastest-growing major city in California,[7] owing to its status as a notable political center on the West Coast and as a major educational hub, home of California State University, Sacramento and UC Davis. Similarly, Sacramento is a major center for the California healthcare industry, as the seat of Sutter Health, the world-renowned UC Davis Medical Center, and the UC Davis School of Medicine. In 2013, the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau stated that the city receives 15.3 million visitors per year.[8] and is home to the California Museum, Crocker Art Museum, California State Railroad Museum, California State Capitol Museum, California Hall of Fame, and Old Sacramento State Historic Park. It is also a global city, designated at the "Gamma"-level.[9]

Sacramento is known for its evolving contemporary culture, even being dubbed the fourth most "hipster city" in the United States in one 2016 poll.[10][11]

  1. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named QuickFacts
  2. State of California, Department of Finance, E-1 Population Estimates for Cities, Counties and the State with Annual percent change – January 1, 2016, and 2017. Sacramento, California, May 2017.
  3. Top 50 U.S. Cities by Population and Rank. Infoplease.
  4. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named 2020Pop
  5. Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2017. United States Census Bureau.
  6. Martinez, Jeremiah (September 18, 2022). When and how did Sacramento become California's capital?.
  7. Sacramento is fastest growing big city in California.
  8. Darnell, Brandon (May 17, 2013). Why does Tourism Matter in Sacramento?.
  9. The World According to GaWC 2020.
  10. Report: Sacramento Fourth Most Hipster U.S. City. Capital Public Radio.
  11. STUDY: Seattle Tops Portland As Most 'Hipster' City in U.S. | Infogroup (en). Infogroup.