Merced, California


Merced is a city in and the county seat of Merced County, California, United States, in the San Joaquin Valley. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 86,333, up from 78,958 in 2010. Incorporated on April 1, 1889, Merced is a charter city that operates under a council–manager government. It is named after the Merced River, which flows nearby.
Merced, known as the "Gateway to Yosemite", is less than two hours by automobile from Yosemite National Park to the east and Monterey Bay, the Pacific Ocean, and multiple beaches to the west. The community is served by the passenger rail service Amtrak, a minor, heavily subsidized airline through Merced Regional Airport, and three bus lines. It is approximately from Sacramento, from San Francisco, from Fresno, and from Los Angeles.
In 2005, the city became home to the 10th University of California campus, University of [California, Merced], the first research university built in the U.S. in the 21st century.
WWW Official Site

History

The first Merced post office opened in 1870. Merced incorporated in 1889 and now operates under the council-manager form of government.
During World War II, the Merced County fairgrounds were the site of a temporary "assembly center" where Japanese Americans were detained after being removed from their West Coast homes under Executive Order 9066. 4,669 men, women and children from central California were confined in the Merced Assembly Center from May 6 to September 15, 1942, when they were transferred to the more permanent Granada internment camp in Colorado.
Since 2005, Merced has been home to the University of California, Merced. Historic cultural attractions in the city include The Mainzer Theater which is known for its historic and architectural value, the County Courthouse Museum, the Merced Multicultural Arts Center and the County Library.
Also within a short distance from the city limits are the Castle Air Museum, Lake Yosemite, and Merced Falls. The city of Merced along with its surrounding cities are serviced by the Merced Sun-Star and the Merced County Times. The Merced Sun-Star daily newspaper has a circulation of 14,219 daily and 18,569 Saturday in the Merced area. The paper was sold to U.S. Media in 1985 and was acquired by The McClatchy Company in January 2004.
Homes at the median level in Merced had lost 62% of their value from the second quarter of 2006, when they peaked at $336,743, the biggest drop anywhere in the country. Home prices have since rebounded, with the median sale price in April 2018 at $247,000. The current average being $358,000. Investors from outside of the Valley were helping to drive up home prices.
The metro area went to a 14.2% unemployment rate in December 2013. Having since recovered to a rate of 8.7% in April 2018. Some efforts have been directed towards diversifying its economy and are showing a lowering trend in the overall unemployment rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
During the Great Recession Merced suffered one of the greatest property price collapses in the country and house prices at the end of 2009 had fallen to 1998 levels, according to Zillow, making housing affordable compared to many other California locations.
The economy has traditionally relied upon agribusiness and upon the presence of Castle Air Force Base. Over the past twenty years, more diversified industry has entered the area, including printing, fiberglass boat building, warehousing and distribution, and packaging industries.
In September 1995, Castle Air Force Base closed after phasing down over the previous three years. This affected residential real estate and some sectors of the retail and service economies, but overall retail continued to increase. Industrial development is increasing in the area. It is now known as the Castle Airport Aviation and Development Center. The Castle Air Museum remains at the site.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of.
Merced is approximately southeast of San Francisco and northwest of Los Angeles.
A major groundwater plume containing the contaminant PCE was discovered in Merced in 1987. Subsequently, drilling of new water wells was severely restricted.

Climate

Merced has a cool semi-arid climate, with its annual precipitation falling just short of a mediterranean climate. The city features hot to sweltering, dry summers and mild, damp winters. There are an average of 99.7 days with highs of or higher and an average of 27.8 days with lows of or lower. The record highest temperature of was recorded on September 6, 2022. The record lowest temperature of was recorded on December 24, 1990.
The wettest "rain year" was from July 1982 to June 1983 with and the driest from July 2013 to June 2014 with. The most rainfall in one month was in January 1909. The most rainfall in 24 hours was, which occurred on January 30, 1911 and March 9, 1911.
;Notes:

Economy

Top employers

According to the city's Official Website the top employers in the city are:
#Employer# of Employees
1County of Merced1980
2University of California, Merced1,910
3Merced City School District1300
4AT&T Call Center 1,200
5Merced Union High School District890
6Merced College800
7Quad Graphics700
8City of Merced480
9Scholle Corporation370
10WalMart290

In the summer of 2014, the Castle Commerce Center's call center closed, subtracting 400 jobs from AT&T's share of employment.

Agriculture

Merced is ranked as the sixth-top producing county in California. In 2019, Merced County generated $3.271 billion in total value of production. The top five commodities from 2019 in Merced are:
Crops$ Amount Ranking in CA% of State Total
Milk905,1162nd15.5
Almonds421,254N/A9.3
Cattle297,4514th8.7
Chickens294,6332nd8.1
Sweet Potatoes234,9641st92.2

Education

Merced is home to a community college, Merced College and the University of California Merced.
UC Merced now enrolls 8,321 undergraduate and 772 graduate students for a total of 9,093 students, as reported in the university's fall 2021 census. Of the 2021-2022 undergraduate degrees awarded, the top degrees were: 19% Biological Sciences, 16% Psychology, 11% Management, and 10% Computer Science Engineering. The University of California, Merced campus opened in late 2005 northeast of the city limits. UC Merced spans a campus area of 1,026 acres. UC Merced enrolled about 7,967 students during the 2017–2018 academic year.
Merced is served by the Merced City School District, which has five main middle schools, Cruickshank Middle School, Herbert Hoover Middle School, Rivera Middle School, Weaver Middle School and Tenaya Middle School. There are also 14 elementary schools in this district.
Merced Union High School District has three major public high school campuses in Merced, Merced High School, Golden Valley High School, and El Capitan High School as well as a few smaller campuses offering alternative education.
Merced's community college, Merced College, has an enrollment of 8,996 students as of January 2021. The main campus of Merced College covers an area of 267 acres.

Health

Mercy Medical Center Merced. A 2016 Community Health Assessment prepared by the Merced County Department of Public Health, determined that top health topics that affect Merced and Merced county are heart disease and stroke; diabetes; access to health care; and drug and alcohol abuse. In 2017 the MCDPH published the Merced County Community Health Improvement Plan in an effort to "address health disparities and to promote health equity with the goal of health and wellness for all county residents."

Demographics

Race / Ethnicity 2010200019901980
Latino whites|White] alone 23.6%
30%
37.8%
48.9%
62%
Black alone 4.9%
5.7%
6.1%
6.1%
7.3%
American Indian alone 0.5%
0.5%
0.6%
0.7%
0.9%
Asian alone 10.7%
11.6%
11.2%
14.2%
1.6%
Pacific Islander alone 0.2%
0.2%
0.1%
14.2%
1.6%
Race and ethnicity in [the United States census|Other race] alone 0.5%
0.2%
0.2%
0.2%
0.2%
Multiracial 3.4%
2.4%
2.7%
——
Hispanic/Latino 56.3%
49.6%
41.4%
29.9%
28.2%

2020

The 2020 United States census reported that Merced had a population of 86,333. The population density was. The racial makeup of Merced was 35.8% White, 5.4% African American, 2.5% Native American, 11.1% Asian, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 27.1% from other races, and 17.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 56.3% of the population. The most reported ancestries were:
The census reported that 98.9% of the population lived in households, 0.4% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0.6% were institutionalized.
There were 27,462 households, out of which 42.1% included children under the age of 18, 40.7% were married-couple households, 8.9% were cohabiting couple households, 31.0% had a female householder with no partner present, and 19.5% had a male householder with no partner present. 21.1% of households were one person, and 8.6% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 3.11. There were 19,546 families.
The age distribution was 28.9% under the age of 18, 12.3% aged 18 to 24, 27.6% aged 25 to 44, 19.7% aged 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 30.5years. For every 100 females, there were 96.2 males.
There were 29,083 housing units at an average density of, of which 27,462 were occupied. Of these, 43.3% were owner-occupied, and 56.7% were occupied by renters.
In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that the median household income was $59,938, and the per capita income was $26,140. About 18.6% of families and 23.0% of the population were below the poverty line.

2010

The 2010 United States census reported that Merced had a population of 78,959. The population density was 3,386.4 people per square mile.. The racial makeup of Merced was 41,177 White, 4,958 African American, 1,153 Native American, 9,342 Asian, 174 Pacific Islander, 17,804 from other races, and 4,350 from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 39,140 persons.
The Census reported that 77,878 people lived in households, 492 lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 588 were institutionalized.
There were 24,899 households, out of which 11,484 had children under the age of 18 living in them, 10,958 were opposite-sex married couples living together, 4,921 had a female householder with no husband present, 1,941 had a male householder with no wife present. There were 2,156 unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 167 same-sex married couples or partnerships. 5,356 households were made up of individuals, and 1,823 had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.13. There were 17,820 families ; the average family size was 3.65.
The population was spread out, with 25,091 people under the age of 18, 10,475 people aged 18 to 24, 20,986 people aged 25 to 44, 15,484 people aged 45 to 64, and 6,922 people who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 28.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.6 males.
There were 27,446 housing units at an average density of, of which 10,637 were owner-occupied, and 14,262 were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 3.5%; the rental vacancy rate was 8.5%. 31,690 people lived in owner-occupied housing units and 46,188 people lived in rental housing units.

Hmong community

Escaping persecution from Communist forces after the Laotian Civil War, Hmong refugees from Laos moved to the United States in the 1970s and '80s, first settling in Merced and other areas in the Central Valley of California. The Hmong could not initially take part in farming like they had expected, as the land was owned by other people. They could not get high end agricultural jobs because they did not speak sufficient English and Mexican migrants already held low end agricultural jobs. As such, a great many of Merced's Hmong collected social services and Hmong gangs arose, prompting other residents to perceive them as being the cause of economic troubles. As the Hmong settlement matured and the Hmong children gained English language skills, the town's overall attitude began to be more accepting of the Hmong community.
This acceptance is reflected in various services provided to the Hmong community. This includes the Merced Lao Family Community Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides social services to Hmong people, the Merced Department of Public Health's MATCH program, intending to draw Hmong patients into the health care system, a body of Hmong-speaking faculty and paraprofessionals, and media outlets for the Hmong community—cable television channel Channel 11 broadcasts programming to the Hmong community twice per week and radio station KBIF 900 AM airs programming oriented towards Hmong people.
While Merced has historically had a proportionally large portion of Hmong, demographic shifts have reduced this. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 prompted a move of some Hmong to Minnesota, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. More recently, many Hmong have gone to Alaska to work in crabbing and fishing industries that require little proficiency in English.

Black community

Through the years, Merced County has recognized many historic milestones. Some of those essential moments include the rise of Merced's first Black mayor, Sam Pipes in 1983 and the visit by first lady Michelle Obama to UC Merced for the university's 2009 commencement.
There's also the story of the late Charles Ogletree, a Merced native who rose from poverty to become a respected Harvard Law professor. Ogletree taught both Barack and Michelle Obama at Harvard; he remained close to Barack Obama throughout his apolitical career.
Ogletree wrote opinion pieces on the state of race in the United States for major publications. Ogletree also served as the moderator for a panel discussion on civil rights in baseball on March 28, 2008, that accompanied the second annual Major League Baseball civil rights exhibition game the following day between the New York Mets and the Chicago White Sox.

Racial demographics

In 2010, Latinos became a majority population in Merced and Merced County as the agricultural industry brought in migrant farm laborers. The area's affordable housing prices attracted both Latino and Asian immigrants. Merced has large Asian-American populations relative to the city and county's population size.
In Merced County, Black history goes back to before the Civil War. According to historian Sarah Lim, during the mid-1800s Blacks came to this region and California as enslaved persons, while others arrived as free settlers. The 2011 census reported that 9,837 Black or African Americans lived in Merced County

Crime

In 2021, Merced had approximately 4,000 violent crimes occur within the city. This means that with a population of just 89,303 people, in 2021, individuals had approximately a 4.5% chance of falling victim to a crime while living-in or visiting Merced. Of the crimes that occurred, roughly 1,200 were physical and 2,500 were property-related. However, these crimes occurring in 2021 resulted in 13 fatalities. With its high crime rate, Merced is considered one of the "50 most dangerous" Californian cities to live in.

Government

In the California State Legislature, Merced is in, and in.
In the United States House of Representatives, Merced is in.

Sports

UC Merced is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and competes in the California Pacific Conference. It offers men's and women's basketball, volleyball, soccer, water polo, cross country and track. In July 2024, it was announced that in 2026-2027, UC Merced will begin NCAA Division II competition in the 2025-26 academic year and will be fully eligible for postseason in 2026-27.
Merced High School and Golden Valley High School sponsor athletics as well.
Merced has a history of minor league baseball including the California League Merced Bears and Atwater Angels in nearby Atwater, California. There were the defunct Merced Black Bears of the Horizon Air Summer Series and the current Atwater Aviators of the Golden State Collegiate Baseball League.

Transportation

[Image:Merced-OpenStreetMap.png|thumb|right|200px|Major highways near Merced]

Major highways

Air

Bus

  • Greyhound, Intercalifornias, TUFESA and Fronteras del Norte serve Merced.
  • YARTS provides scheduled service into Yosemite National Park.
  • Merced County Transit, "The Bus", operates both regularly scheduled fixed route bus service and Dial-A-Ride transportation services throughout Merced County.
  • CatTracks is UC Merced's bus service, which connects students, staff and faculty at the university to off-campus apartments, the off-campus Castle facilities, local amenities, the Amtrak station, and the downtown area. CatTracks also has a live map.

Rail

Gold Runner provides passenger service.
The Yosemite Valley Railroad ran from Merced between 1907 and 1945.

High-speed rail

The California High-Speed Rail Authority February 2016 draft business plan, outlined the Merced station as not beginning service at the same time as the initial San Jose to Bakersfield route in 2025, but would likely open in 2029 instead. This would make the leg between the Central Valley and Pacheco Pass the first to be constructed. The Merced City Council vigorously opposed the delay in their city's station opening, noting Merced's volume of commuters seeking high-speed rail to access jobs in Silicon Valley. In response, the April 2016 revisions to the business plan indeed included Merced in the initial construction segment, initially as a single-track spur connecting only to the westbound track to the Bay Area, with build out of the full Wye happening later. The system will run from San Francisco to the Los Angeles basin in under three hours at speeds capable of over 200 miles per hour. In August 2022, the CAHSRA announced that it had received a $25,000,000 RAISE Grant to advance design work from Madera to Merced.
Sample trips in the California High Speed rail would include:
Altamont Corridor Express Extension
The ACE regional rail system is pursuing an extension to Merced as a part of its broader Altamont Corridor Vision plan. The Final Environmental Impact Report for the Ceres-Merced extension was approved on December 3, 2021.

Notable people