It’s true, Santa Clarita is getting bigger and the newly-released statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau show a nearly 17 percent increase in the number of people who call this home.

Over the last 10 years, the city’s population went from 151,088 to 176,320, adding 25,232 people to the local mix. While the area remains predominantly white (98,838), the Latino population has increased by 68 percent (51,941) and the Asian population (14,689) increased, the black population actually decreased.

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Census takers counted 62,055 housing units with a 95.9 occupancy rate (59,507) While Santa Clarita experienced a 16.7 percent increase, the remainder of the county on average grew only 7.2 percent. Our Antelope Valley neighbors topped the charts with Lancaster being the fastest-growing city in the county, showing a 31.9 percent increase and Palmdale not far behind with a jump of 30.9 percent.

Information by zip codes, which would give a better picture of the demographics of the unincorporated areas around Santa Clarita, has not been released. According to a Census spokesman, because census blocks don’t necessarily correspond with zip codes, this demographic information takes a little more refining before it can be released.

Information released yesterday was in compliance with a law that requires census numbers be given to those responsible for composing congressional and state legislative districts in California no later than April 1.

Despite the growth in population, this census is the first that did not result in an additional Congressional seat for California. Data from the census will be used by a state commission, put in place by the voters in 2008, that will redraw congressional and state legislative districts in California.