Santa Clarita Was County’s Fastest-Growing City in ’97

Annexations of new neighborhoods spurred population growth of nearly 10% in 1997, making Santa Clarita the fastest-growing city in Los Angeles County last year, according to state figures.

Santa Clarita increased in size from 131,100 to 143,800, a jump of 9.7%, according to Department of Finance figures released Wednesday.

Westlake Village was the third fastest-growing city, expanding 5.5%, behind Vernon at 6.4%.

In the Antelope Valley, which grew rapidly in previous years, Lancaster grew 1.8% and Palmdale 2.4%, only slightly above the county average of 1.4%.

Statewide, California gained 582,000 more people than it lost in 1997.

The state’s growth--the second year of gains after five years of losing population--swelled the population to 33,252,000, as of January.

Los Angeles remained far and away the state’s largest county, with about 9.6 million residents. San Diego, with 2.8 million, was second, and Orange, with 2.7 million, was third.

Kings County recorded the largest percentage growth--5.2%--while Los Angeles drew the most newcomers, with 132,000 new residents.

Tell the U-Haul people about it. Los Angeles was the company’s No. 1 destination city in 1997, for the second year in a row. Anaheim was sixth among destinations, San Diego eighth, Sacramento ninth, Van Nuys 11th, San Jose 15th, San Francisco 26th, Oakland 35th, and San Bernardino, Fremont and Concord were 47th, 48th and 49th, respectively.

The state numbers are watched for a number of reasons--not the least of which is they can affect how much money local governments are authorized to spend.

Communities may find their spending limits increased if their populations have grown, though they will usually get at least as much as they received the year before, even if their population shrinks.

The state population figures also matter when determining how much needs to be spent on roads, sewers and other public improvements.

The Kings County community of Corcoran had the honor of being the state’s fastest-growing city, with a 22% population increase in 1997. But don’t bother looking for 3,011 of the 3,100 new faces in Corcoran--they belong to inmates at the new state prison and substance-abuse treatment facility.