About Chico

Chico ( CHEE-koh; Spanish for "little") is the most populous city in Butte County, California. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 101,475 in the 2020 census, reflecting an increase from 86,187 in the 2010 Census. Chico is the cultural and economic center of the northern Sacramento Valley, as well as the largest city in California north of the capital city of Sacramento. The city is known as a college town, as the home of California State University, Chico, and for Bidwell Park, one of the largest urban parks in the world. == History == The first known inhabitants of the area now known as Chico—a Spanish word meaning "little"—were the Mechoopda Maidu Native Americans.