Lancaster is the eighth-largest city in Los Angeles County, California and the
9th fastest growing city in the United States. Lancaster is located
approximately 70 miles (112.5 km) north (by road travel) of the city of Los
Angeles in Southern California's Antelope Valley. It is separated from the Los
Angeles Basin by the San Gabriel Mountain Range to the south and from
Bakersfield and the San Joaquin Valley by the Tehachapi Mountain Range to the
north. The population of Lancaster has grown from 37,000 residents at the time
of incorporation in 1977, to an estimated 145,074 residents in 2009, and is
the second-largest city on the California side of the Mojave Desert. As
of[update] the 2009 population estimate, the Palmdale / Lancaster, CA Urbanized
Area (a US Census Bureau defined term) has a population of 476,845.
