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Sacramento, 
United States
1,514,661 people lived in Sacramento in 2025. It is the 333rd largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 16th largest in the United States.
Like every city on this site, Sacramento is counted as a built-up area seen from above rather than as a city government's territory. Why that changes the number.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Sacramento grew
For every 10 people in Sacramento in 1985, there were 58.8 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 1.7 million people in 2050. It passed a million people between 2005 and 2010. The UN first counts it as a city in 1985, when it passed 50,000 people.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: one column every five years, 1975 to 2050; its height is the number of people. Hatched columns are the UN's projection. The thin strip beneath says how sure the UN is of each figure: the stronger the colour, the surer. A blank means the place was not on the UN's list of cities that year.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Sacramento through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Sacramento in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
United States · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 348 cities in the United States in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being New York City. The ringed dot in colour is Sacramento; the grey dots are the rest. The outlines around them are neighbouring countries.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Sacramento covered 605 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 160 km² of it. That is 106 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 10 by 10 metres. Since 1985, its built-up land has grown to 5.9 times its size, and its people are 5.9 times as many.
How to read this: the outer pale square stands for all the land the city covers, and the solid square inside it for the part with buildings, roads and the like on it. All three squares share a scale, so you can compare them by eye. A hatched one is a year the UN has projected.
Of every 100 people in the United States
Its share of the United States
Of every 1,000 people in the United States in 2025, 4 lived in Sacramento, which is 1.5 million people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in the United States, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Sacramento's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 329 Dallas1,521,118
- 330 Gorakhpur India1,519,206
- 331 Daejeon South Korea1,517,299
- 332 Jodhpur India1,515,910
- 333 Sacramento1,514,661
- 334 Austin1,513,032
- 335 Toluca Mexico1,505,035
- 336 Kananga Democratic Republic of the Congo1,504,370
- 337 Oakland1,503,319
In the United States, 2025
- 260 San Diego1,915,114
- 290 San Antonio1,686,163
- 296 Boston1,639,797
- 329 Dallas1,521,118
- 333 Sacramento1,514,661
- 334 Austin1,513,032
- 337 Oakland1,503,319
- 359 Seattle1,403,495
- 363 Mesa1,398,369
How to read this: names are in order of size, the leading number being each city's rank among all 12,138 in 2025; the bars share a scale within a list. A jump in the ranks means a city under 300,000 people, which is not given a page here.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Sacramento are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1985 to 2025, then projection to 2050. Projected years are drawn hatched, and the UN publishes no range of uncertainty for a city. What a city means here, how the UN measures one, and why that number can differ from the one Sacramento publishes about itself: how the figures here are put together.
Sources: UN WUP 2025 · Natural Earth · flag-icons. Every source, its licence and how to cite it →
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries