CA · Sacramento County · 524,943 (2020) · 35th-largest US city · state capital
Sacramento, California
Sacramento lies where the American River joins the Sacramento River in California's Central Valley, 90 miles northeast of San Francisco. It is the capital of California and the thirty-fifth-largest city in the United States.
- State
- California
- County
- Sacramento County
- Population (2020)
- 524,943
- Rank
- 35th in the US
- Coordinates
- 38.58°N, 121.49°W
- Time zone
- Pacific
- Metro area
- about 2.4 million
- State capital
- Yes – capital of California
Where Sacramento is
Sacramento is at 38.58°N, 121.49°W in Sacramento County, of which it is the county seat. The city covers about 98 square miles of flat valley floor only about 30 feet above sea level, at the point where the Sacramento Valley (north) and San Joaquin Valley (south) meet and where the two rivers were the head of steamboat navigation in the Gold Rush. Levees protect nearly all of the city, which has one of the highest flood risks of any large US city. The Sierra Nevada foothills begin 25 miles east; Lake Tahoe is 100 miles east. San Francisco is 90 miles southwest, San Jose 120 miles south and Fresno 170 miles southeast.
Population and rank
The 2020 Census counted 524,943 residents, ranking Sacramento 35th in the US and sixth in California. It grew about 12 percent between 2010 and 2020. The Sacramento–Roseville–Folsom metropolitan area (Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado and Yolo counties) has about 2.4 million people, the fourth-largest metro in California and the 26th in the country; the city holds only about 22 percent of it, with much of the growth in Elk Grove, Roseville and Folsom. Sacramento is the sixth most populous state capital.
Geography
- Sacramento River — California's largest river, flowing south from Mount Shasta through the valley and past the west side of the city to the Delta and San Francisco Bay.
- American River — enters from the Sierra and meets the Sacramento just north of downtown; the American River Parkway follows it 23 miles to Folsom Lake. Gold was found on the American River at Coloma in 1848.
- Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta — the inland delta of levee-ringed islands begins at the city's southwest edge.
- Central Valley — flat alluvial plain between the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Ranges; summers are hot and dry, winters foggy.
Nearest large cities
The Bay Area is 90 minutes away on Interstate 80; Reno is two hours over the Sierra. Distances are approximate road miles from the Capitol.
| City | State | Road distance (mi) | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | CA | 90 | SW |
| San Jose | CA | 120 | S |
| Fresno | CA | 170 | SE |
| Los Angeles | CA | 385 | S |
| Portland | OR | 580 | N |
Sacramento as state capital
Sacramento has been the capital of California since 1854, after the legislature tried San Jose, Vallejo and Benicia; the vote was helped by the city's central position and its Gold Rush wealth. The Capitol, completed in 1874, stands in a 40-acre park at the east end of the downtown grid. Sacramento is a capital that is far from being its state's largest city — Los Angeles is more than seven times larger. See the Sacramento capital page for the history of the earlier capitals.
Related maps
- California map — the state with its 58 counties.
- Sacramento, state capital — capital facts and history.
- US cities map.
- Sierra Nevada map.
- Nearby cities: San Francisco, San Jose, Fresno.
- Pacific division · Pacific Time Zone.