Sacramento is the capital of the state of California and the seat of government for Sacramento County.

At the 2010 census, the population of Sacramento was 466,488. This population is estimated to have recently grown to just over 501,000 residents. The urban Sacramento area has a population of 1.44 million while the Sacramento metropolitan area -- which includes seven counties -- has an estimated population of 2.66 million. This is the fourth largest metro area in California after Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego, and the 27th largest in the United States.

Sacramento Diversity Statistics

In 2002, the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University named Sacramento as America's Most Diverse City. Sacramento has one of the highest LGBT populations per capita, ranking 7th among major U.S. cities and third in California. About 10% of the population identifies as gay, lesbian, or bisexual.

The non-Hispanic white population of Sacramento has been in decline since the 1940s. In 1940, 94% of the population was white. By 1990, the non-Hispanic white population had declined to 53%, which now stands at 34.5%. Meanwhile, the Asian community began exploding in the 1980s, followed by the Hispanic population in the 1990s.

Sacramento Population Growth

According to recent state figures, the Sacramento area will see some of the most substantial population growth in California in coming years. State demographers project California's Hispanic population will become the largest ethnic group sometime in 2014. In 2010, the Hispanic population was 38% while the white population was 40%. These figures will be reversed by 2020.

The state as a whole experienced the highest population growth rate in 2013 in more than a decade, growing more than 38 million people.

Sacramento is projected to grow by 54% to 2.2 million by 2060.

The Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga discovered the Sacramento Valley and Sacramento River sometime between 1799 or 1932 and gave the area its name after saying the "air was like champagne," thus christening the valley and river after the Catholic sacrament of the Eucharist.

Settlers arrived in 1839 to establish a trading colony. By 1848, gold was discovered in the area, rapidly increasing its population. Despite a cholera epidemic, floods and fires, the new city grew and quickly hit 10,000 people.

During the 1840s and '50s, when China was at war with France and Great Britain, many Chinese immigrants made their way to America. Many settled first in San Francisco but some eventually found their way to Sacramento. Sacramento's Chinatown was situated on I Street and experienced many fires, discrimination and prejudicial legislation, including the Chinese Exclusion Act that was not repealed until the 1940s.

In 1920, Sacramento became a charter city, making it exempt from many regulations and laws passed by the California legislature. In the 1980s and '90s, several local military bases closed and the agriculture business began to decline. Despite this, Sacramento has continued to experience healthy population growth recently, adding 164,000 people from 2000 to 2007.