Skip to main content
News

Correction Puts San Francisco-Oakland Urban Area Population Up 250K. Here’s Why

Written by Associated PressPublished Sep. 12, 2023 • 11:11am
Locals hike, bike and run in the Marin Headlands overlooking San Francisco, land that was preserved by creation of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. | Source: Getty Images

Some of the most high-profile urban areas in the U.S. gained population on Tuesday. But it's not because of a sudden flood of moving trucks into Atlanta, New Orleans and San Francisco.

Rather, the U.S. Census Bureau corrected errors made in the population and housing counts of urban areas that were officially released in December, according to a Federal Register notice published Tuesday.

READ MORE: This California City Lost the Most Residents Last Year—And No, It’s Not San Francisco

The Atlanta urban area had its population adjusted to 5.1 million residents from 4.9 million residents. An additional 100,853 residents living in more than 37,000 homes had been mistakenly assigned to the Gainesville, Georgia, urban area.

The population of the New Orleans urban area grew to 963,212 residents from 914,531. The additional 48,681 residents had been mistakenly assigned to the Laplace-Lutcher-Gramercy, Louisiana, urban area, which was supposed to be deleted following a merger with the New Orleans urban area.

The San Francisco-Oakland urban area's population was corrected to 3.5 million residents from 3.2 million. The addition of nearly a quarter million residents, as well as more than 100,000 homes, came from the San Rafael-Novato, California, urban area, which had been counted separately by accident when it actually should have been deleted and merged with the San Francisco-Oakland urban area.

After every once-a-decade census, the Census Bureau publishes a list of urban areas and their population and housing counts. The most recent one was released in December.

Questions, comments or concerns about this article may be sent to info@sfstandard.com


San Francisco Man Wrongly Convicted of 2008 Murder Could Get $900,000 Payout From City

San Francisco Man Wrongly Convicted of 2008 Murder Could Get $900,000 Payout From City


San Francisco Lululemon Mass Retail Theft Sees 2 of 9 Suspects Charged

San Francisco Lululemon Mass Retail Theft Sees 2 of 9 Suspects Charged


An aerial view shows the Cordilleras Creek Bridge over Highway 101 in Redwood City.

Highway 101 Closure: SFO Traffic Chaos Expected as Road Closed for 3 Days


Racist, Antisemitic Speech Disrupts San Francisco City Hall Meeting

Racist, Antisemitic Speech Disrupts San Francisco City Hall Meeting


Trains wait on tracks 5 and 6 for passengers at the Caltrain Station in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, July 18, 2019. Business leaders and transportation officials are putting together a sales tax ballot measure for next year that would generate billions for transportation infrastructure in the Bay Area. Top on their wish list is the downtown extension of Caltrain, with a tunnel running from the Mission Bay Area to the Transbay Terminal.

Caltrain Happy Hour: Toast Bay Area Transit at This BYOB Train Event