Palmdale Is State’s Fastest Growing City for 3rd Straight Year

For the third straight year, Palmdale has been named the fastest growing of the 448 incorporated cities in California, a research group said Tuesday.

The survey by the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy, an independent research firm in Palo Alto, showed that Palmdale grew from a population of 17,396 in 1984 to 45,859 at the end of 1988. The city has added about 3,000 residents since then.

The center said the new residents are being drawn by relatively low home prices and the area’s potential for job growth.

“We are getting a lot of home buyers who want more house for their money,” said Steve Buffalo, a spokesman for the city. An estimated 90% of new Palmdale home buyers are commuters, he said.

The city is an hour or more from downtown Los Angeles. However, the drive can take much longer in traffic jams.

Palmdale achieved the top-growth ranking based on five-year gains of 164% in population, 169% in assessed property valuation and 115% in retail sales.

City officials expect Palmdale’s growth to continue. During the first five months of this year, more than $200 million worth of building permits were issued.

That figure does not include a 77-acre auto mall or a 1 million-square-foot retail shopping mall, both scheduled to open in late 1990.

Additionally, some jobs are coming to Palmdale. In April, as part of a corporate restructuring, Lockheed Corp. announced that it would start transferring about 7,000 jobs from its facilities in Burbank to Palmdale and Santa Clarita.

The city of Moorpark in Ventura County was the third-fastest growing city behind Moreno Valley in Riverside County.