What Is California's Smallest City?

What is California’s smallest city?  The smallest city in California is Amador City, which has an area of 0.3 square miles.  Another city claims it is the smallest with 1.0 square miles and that would be Covina.  Let’s look at what the smallest cities in California are and learn a little more about them.

Amador City is a city in Amador County and is the smallest city in California.  It is also pretty small in population, having 196 at the 2000 census. The Census Bureau has estimated that the population has doubled since then.  It is located in the northern part of central California in the area of the California Gold Rush.

California’s smallest city was incorporated in 1915 and began as a mining town.  It was named after a wealthy rancher, Jose Maria Amador, who prospected an unknown creek between 1848 and 1849. Amador City is two miles from Sutter Creek and one of its mines, the Keystone, produced around $24 million in gold between 1853 and 1942.  It had a post office in 1863.  

Covina - California's Smallest City by Area

There's another small city that is worth looking at too. Covina is located 22 miles east of Los Angeles and claims not only to be the smallest city in California but in the whole country.  It is one square mile in area and has a population of 46,837 on the 2000 census.  Its slogan is "One Mile Square and All There" was created by the winner of a slogan contest in 1922.

The name “Covina” is a blend of two words.  The founder of the city, Joseph Swift Phillips, noticed the way the valleys formed a natural cove around the vineyards that had been planted, he put the two words “cove” and “vine” together.

In all fairness, Covina was incorporated in 1901, which was 14 years before Amador City was incorporated.  So, for 14 years it was very possibly the smallest city in land area in California and the country. After 1915 though, that title went to Amador City.   

Vernon - California's Smallest Unincorporated City

Vernon is a city in Los Angeles County that has only 91 people.  That makes it the smallest incorporated city in Southern California by way of population and yet another answer to what California's smallest city is.  Most of the city is industrial facilities, hence the slogan “Exclusively Industrial.”

Here are a few more interesting facts about Vernon:

• It was incorporated in 1901 to facilitate industrial growth alongside the railroads that were there. 
• The main industries today are metalworking, food service, and the manufacture of glass and plastic equipment.
• Some of the many businesses there are: Farmer John, Bon Appetit Bakery, and True Religion.
• Vernon was named the “Most Business Friendly City” for cities with less than 50,000 residents by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation in 2008.

Most of the residents of Vernon work for the city and many live in city-owned housing. There are about 44,000 people who work in Vernon and most of them live outside the city limits.  

Little Grass Valley - A Census Designated Place

Little Grass Valley is a census designated place or CDP. Whenever there is a small group of people living in the same general area, it is designated as a CDP that needs to be counted by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes.  CDPs:

• Are populated areas that don’t have a city government.  They are not towns, cities, or villages.
• Some CDPs were once thriving cities but have little population now for various reasons.  Reasons can include natural disasters, economic downturns, or Indian villages that are no longer needed.  Currently Little Grass Valley has a population of zero.

Little Grass Valley was originally a summer camp for the Maidu Indians and it later became a mining camp during the California Gold Rush.  In 1963, the whole area was flooded and a lake was created.  Now, there are some campgrounds around the lake and it is used for snowmobiling in the winter.  It is about three miles from the city of La Porte.