Orange County’s 34 cities added people and revenue in the past year with fast-growing Irvine overtaking Huntington Beach as the third largest city, according to this week’s Business Journal list.
The list ranks cities by current population and includes yearly revenue, city workers and large employers.
In all, the cities have 2.99 million residents-virtually all of the county’s 3 million people, except for those who live in unincorporated areas.
Residents in the cities were up 1%, or 30,555 people, from a year earlier.
The five biggest cities-Santa Ana, Anaheim, Irvine, Huntington Beach and Garden Grove-have 1.28 million people, more than 40% of the county’s total.
The cities grew workers and revenue, too. They employ 15,355 people, up 10% from a year earlier. Their revenue grew 2.3% to $2.05 billion for 12 months through June.
City officials credit their growth to the housing boom of the past few years, commercial development and tourism.
Next year stands to be a different story.
The housing downturn has stopped projects in several cities and could slow population growth this year and next. The larger economic slowdown is crimping sales tax revenue.
For more on this story, read the Aug. 25 edition of the Business Journal.
