Paradise
Butte County4,762 in 2020·10,023 in 2025·+5,261 people
California rankings · Growth
Fastest-growing towns in California
Paradise has grown fastest of California’s 451 towns of 2,500+: up 110.5% from 4,762 residents in April 2020 to an estimated 10,023 in July 2025 (Census Bureau estimates). The typical town here changed −1.6%; 285 of the 451 lost residents.
Census Bureau population estimates, Vintage 2025: July 1, 2025 against the April 2020 base, both on January 2025 town lines (people a town annexed are in its base, not its growth). Estimates, not counts. Unincorporated communities (census-designated places) get no estimate, so they aren’t listed. A described list: no letters. How grades work
+110.5%
#2Lathrop
San Joaquin County28,734 in 2020·42,783 in 2025·+14,049 people
#3Shafter
Kern County19,950 in 2020·23,871 in 2025·+3,921 people
All 451 towns
Growth since 2020, highest first.
451 towns ranked. Not here? See why a town may be missing.
#TownGrowth since 2020People addedResidents
Quick answers
Questions people ask
What is the fastest-growing town in California?
Paradise (Butte County): it grew 110.5%, from 4,762 residents in April 2020 to an estimated 10,023 in July 2025. Lathrop (+48.9%) and Shafter (+19.7%) follow.
How are these towns ranked?
By the percent change in residents from the Census Bureau’s April 2020 estimates base to its latest July 1 estimate, highest first, on the exact change: two towns shown with the same tenth of a percent keep the order of their unrounded figures, and only an identical change shares a rank (T). The base is the 2020 Census count redrawn on today’s town lines, so a town that annexed land since 2020 changes only by births, deaths and moves, not by the people it took in. How grades work.
Why isn’t my town on this list?
The list covers the towns TownRatings grades that had 2,500+ residents in the 2020 estimates base (451 in California). Census-designated places (unincorporated communities) have no Census Bureau estimates, so they never appear; a town incorporated since 2020, or one TownRatings merges with its twin township, isn’t listed either. Every town is on the California page.
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Every list ranks the same 2,500+ towns, so a town’s rank means the same thing on each.
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