Inland region adds to its population

Two Inland Empire cities are among the fastest-growing cities in California.

Beaumont’s population grew four percent while Chino’s grew 3.4 percent between last January and the first month of 2014, according to the state Department of Finance.

That ranked Beaumont 6th and Chino 10th among the fastest-growing cities in the state based on percentage change.

Taft, in Kern County, ranked number one, with a 6.3 percent surge in population during that one-year period.

Chino ranked 4th among cities with a population of less than 300,000 that experienced the largest numerical change in its population. The city on the west end of the Inland Empire added 2,795 residents during that time, raising its total population to 84,465, according to the finance department, which released its annual population report earlier this month.

The population of every San Bernardino County city grew between January 2014 and January of this year. In Riverside County, only Norco and Blythe experienced population drops during that time, of 2.5 percent and 0.4 percent respectively.

Los Angeles was the largest city in the state based on population as of January, with just under four million residents.

San Diego was 2nd with 1.3 million residents, followed by San Jose with one million, San Francisco with 845,600 and Fresno with 520,160, according to the finance department.