Metropolitan Sacramento Regional Area Description:

Sacramento is the California state capitol and the county seat of Sacramento County. The city is located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers near the center of California's Central Valley, approximately 386 miles north of Los Angeles, 85 miles east of San Francisco, and 95 miles west of the Lake Tahoe resort area.

Sacramento is the center of a metropolitan area that extends from the Sierra Nevada foothills to the valley floor and from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to the farmlands of the southern section of the Sacramento Valley.

The population of the City of Sacramento is 407,018; the population of the metropolitan area which includes Sacramento, Yolo and Placer counties is 2,053,804. Sacramento County is currently one of the fastest growing areas in the United States. A growth rate of 4% to 5% for the near term would have a significant impact on the Sacramento economy. The government is the largest single employer, but other major businesses include Hewlett Packard, Intel, and NEC. Located midway between the San Francisco Bay Area and the Reno/Lake Tahoe resort area, it is accessible by Interstate Highways 5 and 80 and California Route 50.

Community and neighborhood shopping centers proliferated with the influx of new supermarket operations and aggressive expansion by local chain retailers. Banks have continued to expand their branch operations. Restaurant chains are also expanding throughout the Sacramento area. During the last few years, as Sacramento has become more populated, the shopping center tenant mix has changed to include many more service and office oriented businesses to accommodate a variety of consumer needs.

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