Southern California consists of a large triangle of three major metropolitan areas: Los Angeles, San Diego, and the Inland Empire. Rancho Cucamonga is in the north central part of the Inland Empire. Check out the unofficial population numbers below, and you should be able to quickly see why the “I.E.” is an area in great need of church plants! Thirteen cities with more than 50,000 people, and a total population near 2,000,000. Let’s go north!
| Inland Empire Cities | 2007 Population | This makes the I.E. similar in size or larger than the entire metro areas of: | |
| Mentone* | 7,803 | San Antonio | |
| Grand Terrace | 12,543 | Sacramento | |
| Mira Loma* | 17,617 | Kansas City | |
| Bloomington* | 19,318 | Portland | |
| Loma Linda | 22,632 | Fort Worth /Arlington | |
| Norco | 27,255 | Orlando | |
| Yucaipa | 51,784 | San Francisco | |
| Colton | 51,918 | Virginia Beach | |
| Highland | 52,503 | Indianapolis | |
| Redlands | 71,807 | Milwaukee | |
| Upland | 75,137 | Las Vegas | |
| Rialto | 99,767 | Charlotte | |
| Corona | 147,428 | New Orleans | |
| Ontario | 173,690 | Austin | |
| Rancho Cucamonga | 174,308 | Memphis | |
| Moreno Valley | 183,860 | Louisville | |
| Fontana | 188,498 | Jacksonville | |
| San Bernardino | 205,493 | Richmond, VA | |
| Riverside | 296,842 | Salt Lake City | |
1,880,203 |
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| These stats are largely based on the California Department of Finance 2007 stats except the * cities which are unincorporated and so I could only find 2000 census numbers. The Metropolitan Statistical Area list in the right column is drawn from the 2000 census. | |||
