Yuba City, California
Yuba City is a city in and the county seat of Sutter County, California, United States. The population was 70,117 at the 2020 census. Yuba City is the principal city of the Yuba City Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Sutter County and Yuba County. The metro area's population is 164,138. It is the 21st largest metropolitan area in California, ranked behind Redding and Chico. Its metropolitan statistical area is part of the Greater Sacramento CSA.
History
Early history
The Maidu people were settled in the region when they were first encountered by Spanish and Mexican scouting expeditions in the early 18th century. One version of the origin of the name "Yuba" is that during one of these expeditions, wild grapes were seen growing by a river, and so it was named "Uba", a variant spelling of the Spanish word uva. On the map of the area made by Jean Jacques Vioget in 1841, a Maidu rancheria called Buba, noted in Stephen Powers' 1877 book The Tribes of California as the village of Yú-ba, was located at the present site of Yuba City.The Mexican government granted a large expanse of land, which included the area in which Yuba City is situated, to John Sutter—the same John Sutter upon whose land gold was subsequently discovered in 1848. He sold part of this tract to some enterprising men who wished to establish a town near the confluence of the Yuba River and the Feather River, tributaries of the Sacramento River, with an eye to developing a commercial center catering to the thousands of gold miners headed upstream to the gold fields. At the same time, another town was developing on the eastern bank of the Feather River, the beginnings of what later would become Marysville.
By 1852, Yuba City was a steamboat landing, had one hotel, a grocery store, a post office, and approximately 20 dwelling homes with a population of about 150.
Yuba City was chosen as county seat for Sutter County in 1854. The same year, however, voters decided that Nicolaus would be a better location, and the county seat was moved there. County voters returned to their first choice of Yuba City two years later, in 1856, and it has remained the county seat since.
Yuba City saw its first major influx of population after World War II, pushing residential areas west and south from the city's original center. Orchards were turned into residential areas as new homes were built for people migrating to the city.
The Flood of 1955
In December 1955, a series of storms dropped torrential rain throughout northern California. The deluge caused all the rivers in the region to overflow their banks and to break through levees. The Christmas Eve levee break at Yuba City was particularly disastrous, with 38 people losing their lives, and heavy damage occurring in the downtown section. According to Dick Brandt, manager of the Yuba County airport in 1955, between 550 and 600 Sutter County residents were rescued from the floodwater by helicopter.The Yuba City Chickens
Sometime between the 1950s and the 1970s, a livestock auction was abandoned near the current movie theater, leaving roosters and chickens behind. The roosters and chickens eventually escaped and made their new home in the surrounding area near Franklin Road and Highway 99. There have been attempts to relocate the chickens, but the residents of Yuba City have always shut them down, as the chickens have become a staple and the unofficial mascots of the town.The 1961 B-52 airplane crash
On March 14, 1961, a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress carrying nuclear weapons, flying near Yuba City, encountered a pressurization problem, and had to drop to a lower altitude. Because of this, more fuel than expected was used, and the aircraft ran out of fuel. It crashed before meeting with a tanker aircraft. The pilot gave the bailout command, and the crew egressed at 10,000 ft, except for the pilot, who ejected at 4,000 ft, while avoiding a populated area. The aircraft was destroyed. The weapons, two Mark 39 thermonuclear bombs were destroyed on impact though no explosion took place, and there was no release of radioactive material as a result.The 1976 school bus crash
On May 21, 1976, a school bus carrying members of the Yuba City High School's choir to a performance at Miramonte High School in Orinda, California plunged 28 feet off the exit ramp on I-680 at Marina Vista Road in Martinez, California. Twenty-seven students and one adult chaperone died and twenty-three students were seriously injured.The 1978 missing person case
On February 24, 1978, five young men from Yuba City, Gary Dale Mathias, Jack Madruga, Jackie Huett, Theodore Weiher and William Sterling, aged between 24 and 32 years, disappeared under mysterious circumstances. They went to a basketball game in Chico and on their way back drove up to a mountain road away from the main road back to Yuba, where their car had been found later, undamaged and with enough gas to drive back to Yuba City.Four of the men were later found in and near a trailer on June 4 of the same year. Ted Weiher was found inside the trailer, starved, covered in blankets. Inside the trailer there was enough food to supply all five men for about a year, and enough paper and wood to light a fire, but nothing was used this way. The corpses and bones of three of the other men were found outside the trailer, but Gary Mathias was never found.
The 1994 mosque burning
Yuba City has been home to a significant Muslim population, including Pakistani Americans descended from 1902 immigrants. In 1994 the Muslim community completed a mosque that cost an estimated $1.8 million and many hours of donated work. Soon after, the mosque was destroyed by an act of arson, the first time that a mosque was destroyed in the United States. Eventually the mosque was rebuilt with help of Sikhs, Mormons, Christians, and other groups. The story is told in the 2012 documentary An American Mosque.The 2020 police brutality incident
On April 12, 2020, a retired 64 year old veteran named Gregory Gross was assaulted by Yuba City police officers Joshua Jackson, Scott Hansen and Nathan Livingston after they had charged Gross for driving while intoxicated. Gross was handcuffed and compliant at the time of the incident. After twisting his arm and stating that he was now using "pain compliance techniques," Jackson proceeded to throw Gross face first into the ground, severing his vertebrae and leaving him permanently paralyzed. Jackson was afterwards allowed to retire, while Hansen and Livingston remained officers with the Yuba City Police Department. No charges have been brought against any of the officers, despite body camera video emerging which captured the prolonged abuse of the handcuffed senior citizen.In 2022, after several surgeries and years of physical therapy, Gross sued the police department, ultimately winning a $20 million settlement, which was one of the largest such settlements in U.S. history.
Geography
Yuba City is located at 39°8'5" North, 121°37'34" West.According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of, of which is land and is water. The total area is 0.52% water.
The Yuba City area is located north of Sacramento and situated in the Sacramento Valley. It is home to the Sutter Buttes, the smallest mountain range in the world. The Feather River borders the city to the east and the area is sometimes referred to as the "Feather River Valley", which divides the city from its neighbor Marysville.
Climate
Yuba City has a hot-summer mediterranean climate which consists of cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers. On average, January is the coolest and wettest month, and July is the hottest and driest. During the wet season from mid-October to mid-April, Yuba City sees frequent rain and is usually under the tule fog. Snow is rare in the valley, but cold waves from the north may bring some light snow and ice. Spring is wet in the beginning but becomes drier and warmer as summer months approach. May has some rain, but usually from thunderstorms rather than from winter storms. Rain is rare from June to September. The Delta Breeze, which comes from the Bay Area on summer nights, helps cool temperatures and adds humidity. At times the Delta Breeze is strong enough to bring coastal fog inland to the Sacramento Valley. Autumn starts out warm but becomes cooler, wetter, and foggier as the season progresses.Demographics
2020
The 2020 United States census reported that Yuba City had a population of 70,117. The population density was. The racial makeup of Yuba City was 43.2% White, 2.4% African American, 2.0% Native American, 22.3% Asian, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 17.3% from other races, and 12.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 30.9% of the population.The census reported that 99.0% of the population lived in households, 0.3% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0.7% were institutionalized.
There were 23,179 households, out of which 39.4% included children under the age of 18, 50.7% were married-couple households, 6.9% were cohabiting couple households, 25.6% had a female householder with no partner present, and 16.8% had a male householder with no partner present. 21.0% of households were one person, and 10.2% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.99. There were 16,896 families.
The age distribution was 25.4% under the age of 18, 9.2% aged 18 to 24, 26.4% aged 25 to 44, 23.5% aged 45 to 64, and 15.4% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 36.1years. For every 100 females, there were 98.2 males.
There were 24,027 housing units at an average density of, of which 23,179 were occupied. Of these, 57.0% were owner-occupied, and 43.0% were occupied by renters.
2023 estimates
In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that 24.1% of the population were foreign-born. Of all people aged 5 or older, 61.5% spoke only English at home, 20.0% spoke Spanish, 15.7% spoke other Indo-European languages, 2.6% spoke Asian or Pacific Islander languages, and 0.2% spoke other languages. Of those aged 25 or older, 77.3% were high school graduates and 20.1% had a bachelor's degree.The median household income was $72,322, and the per capita income was $33,563. About 13.2% of families and 15.6% of the population were below the poverty line.