Vallejo

Vallejo is the largest city in Solano County. The population was 115,942 at the 2010 census. It is the tenth most populous city in the San Francisco Bay Area, and is located on the northeastern shore of San Pablo Bay. Vallejo is named for General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (the neighboring city of Benicia is named for his wife).

Vallejo is home to the Six Flags Discovery Kingdom theme park (formerly Marine World and Marine World Africa USA); the now-defunct Mare Island Naval Shipyard; the regional office for Region 5 of the United States Forest Service; the California Maritime Academy (part of the California State University system); the Vallejo Center campus of Solano Community College; and Touro University California, a graduate school offering programs in osteopathic medicine, education, pharmacy, physician assistant studies, and public health. Ferry service runs from a terminal on Mare Island Strait to San Francisco, through the BayLink division of SolTrans.

Vallejo has twice served as the capital of the state of California: once in 1852 and again in 1853, both periods being brief. Some of the first Europeans drawn to the Vallejo area were attracted by the sulfur springs; in the year 1902 the area was named Blue Rock Springs. In 2008, Vallejo became the largest city to file for bankruptcy in California history (later surpassed by Stockton in 2012). In 2013, Vallejo was ranked as one of the most miserable cities in the U.S.

The 2010 USC reported that Vallejo had a population of 115,942. The population density was 2,340.3 people per square mile (903.6/km²). The race makeup of Vallejo was 38,0665 (32.9%) White, 25,572 (22.1%) African American, 757 (0.7%) Native American, 28,895 (24.9%) Asian (21.1% Filipino, 1.0% Indian, 0.9% Chinese, 0.5% Vietnamese, 0.2% Japanese, 0.2% Korean, 0.1% Laotian), 1,239 (1.1%) Pacific Islander, 12,759 (11.0%) from other races, and 8,656 (7.5%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 26,165 persons (22.6%); 16.1% of Vallejo’s population is of Mexican heritage, 1.8% Salvadoran, 0.8% Puerto Rican, 0.7% Guatemalan, 0.5% Nicaraguan, and 0.2% Peruvian.

The population was spread out with 26,911 people (23.2%) under the age of 18, 11,667 people (10.1%) aged 18 to 24, 30,053 people (25.9%) aged 25 to 44, 33,312 people (28.7%) aged 45 to 64, and 13,999 people (12.1%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37.9 years. For every 100 females there were 94.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.4 males.