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City of Turlock Demographics
Population: 69,321
County: Stanislaus County
Location: 37:30:18N 120:51:01W
Elevation: 101 feet
Area Code: 209
Zip Codes: 95380 95381 95382
Flood Zone: FEMA "C" (no inundation)
Community Panel #060392B effective May 14, 1981
ISO Rating: 3
In the heart of California’s Central Valley, Turlock is the second largest city in Stanislaus County with a population which has grown steadily from 13,992 in 1970 to over 69,000 today. Home of California State University Stanislaus (CSUS), Turlock provides an unusual opportunity to combine a quality learning environment with relaxed rural living.
Cultural art experiences, sports activities, twelve parks, eight schools, a full range of medical facilities and the attractiveness of the nearby Mother Lode, San Francisco Bay area and the Sierra Nevada add to the pleasure of living in Turlock.
Turlock is a General Law City that operates under the Council / Manager form of government. There are five city departments including Police, Fire, Community Development, Municipal and Administrative Services. Turlock offers a full range of municipal services to the community.
The City currently has approved budget allocations for 373 employees. The General Fund budget for fiscal year 2007/08 is $29,249,003. The Non-General Fund budget represents an additional $131,271,791 in budgeted expenses.
Turlock was founded in 1871 by John William Mitchell, a prominent grain farmer in the area. Construction of the Central Pacific Railroad at that time had reached a station to be named after Mitchell, which he declined and suggested it be named after Turlough in County Mayo, Ireland. Thus, the new railroad town was named Turlock.
While it grew to be a relatively prosperous and busy hub of activity throughout the end of the 19th century, it was not incorporated as a city until 1908. By that time intensive agricultural development surrounded most of the city, and agriculture is still a major economic force in the region in current times. That is where the nickname "Heart of the Valley" was introduced. In earlier years Turlock was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as having the most churches per-capita in the United States, partly attributable to a wide variety of ethnic churches having been established for a relatively small settler population. Various religious centers reflecting a diverse population such as Sikh Gurdwaras, various Christian Assyrian churches, and many mainline Protestant and Catholic churches have been built.
In 1960, California State University, Stanislaus, opened to students, helping to spur growth in the city as the university expanded in its early years. In the 1970s, California State Route 99 (formerly U.S. Highway 99) was completed through the area, largely bypassing the then-incorporated areas of Turlock in a route to the west of the city, through mostly undeveloped land. Since that time, the city has grown westward considerably to meet the freeway's north-south path, although urban development west of the freeway has only recently begun to take hold. In an attempt to allow for orderly growth of the city, comprehensive growth master plans have established urban growth boundaries since the 1960s. Turlock experienced extensive growth of both residential and commercial areas in the 1980s, following a statewide boom in housing demand and construction. The housing boom of the 1980s diminished in the early 1990s but increased again in the second half of the 1990s, especially as a result of San Francisco Bay Area growth, which placed a higher demand for more affordable housing in outlying areas. Following the Bay Area's "dot-com bust," housing demand has intensified, suggesting a strong local demand for housing. In recent years Bay Area influence in housing demand has produced higher and higher house prices in an area formerly known for more affordable housing.
A recent boom in the retail sector has produced a considerable amount of growth along the highway 99 corridor.
The city's long-established northern urban growth boundary limit, Taylor Road, has already been reached as a result of rapid residential development from the late 1990s to the present. Urban growth any further north than Taylor being restricted by the city's Master Plan.
Learn more about this city
City of TURLOCK, CA official site
City of TURLOCK, CA chamber of commerce
City of TURLOCK, CA general information
City of TURLOCK, CA yellow pages
City of TURLOCK, CA newspaper
County of STANISLAUS, CA official site
State of California official site