Population
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1850 | 86,105 |
|
|
| 1860 | 346,714 | 302.7% | |
| 1870 | 516,089 | 48.9% | |
| 1880 | 772,778 | 49.7% | |
| 1890 | 961,628 | 24.4% | |
| 1900 | 1,147,725 | 19.4% | |
| 1910 | 1,569,141 | 36.7% | |
| 1920 | 2,003,075 | 27.7% | |
| 1930 | 2,632,273 | 31.4% | |
| 1940 | 3,066,654 | 16.5% | |
| 1950 | 4,654,248 | 51.8% | |
| 1960 | 6,318,482 | 35.8% | |
| 1970 | 7,849,575 | 24.2% | |
| 1980 | 9,359,160 | 19.2% | |
| 1990 | 11,490,926 | 22.8% | |
| 2000 | 13,234,136 | 15.2% | |
| 2010 | 14,573,946 | 10.1% | |
The population of the forty-eight counties of Northern California has shown a steady increase over the years. The 1850 census almost certainly undercounted the population of the area, especially undercounting a still substantial Native American population.
The largest percentage increase outside the Gold Rush era (51%) came in the decade of the 1940s, as the area was the destination of many post-War veterans and their families, attracted by the greatly expanding industrial base and (often) by their time stationed in Northern California during World War II. The largest absolute increase occurred during the decade of 1980s (over 2.1 million person increase), attracted to job opportunities in part by the expansion taking place in Silicon Valley and the Cold War era expansion of the defense industry. The 2010 U.S. Census revealed that Northern California grew at a faster rate than Southern California in the 2000s with a rate slightly higher than the state average.
Read more about this topic: Northern California
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—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)