Calwa (formerly, Calwa City) is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in

Fresno County Fresno County (), officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most populo ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States. The population was 1,776 at the 2020 census, down from 2,052 at the 2010 census. Calwa is located south-southeast of downtown

Fresno Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

, at an elevation of 292 feet (89 m). The name was taken from the acronym for "California Wine Association" (CalWA).

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the community has a total area of , all land. Calwa is an almost complete county island surrounded by the city of Fresno on all sides except the southeast corner.

History

In 1885, the land of what is now Calwa, was improved and cultivated by Hugh William La Rue to plant an orchard and vineyard. His first crop was ruined by a grasshopper pest in 1886 and he sought to plant elsewhere. Calwa became a railroad town when Santa Fe Railways invested one million dollars to build a switching yard and houses for railway employees.

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

also passed through Calwa. The Calwa City post office opened in 1913, and changed its name to Calwa in 1949.

Demographics

Calwa first appeared as a

census designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in the 2010 U.S. Census. An existing CDP using the same name was renamed Malaga after the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

determined that it had been incorrectly named. There previously was a CDP named Calwa first listed as an unincorporated community in the 1970 U.S. Census (pop 5,191) and as a CDP in the

1980 U.S. Census The 1980 United States census, conducted by the United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 226,545,805, an increase of 11.4% over the 203,184,772 persons Enumeration, enumerated dur ...

(pop. 6,640) which was annexed by the city of

prior to the 1990 U.S. Census.

2020 census

The 2020 United States census reported that Calwa had a population of 1,776. The population density was . The racial makeup of Calwa was 260 (14.6%)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 36 (2.0%)

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 42 (2.4%) Native American, 60 (3.4%) Asian, 1 (0.1%)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 1,114 (62.7%) from other races, and 263 (14.8%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1,601 persons (90.1%). The census reported that 1,768 people (99.5% of the population) lived in households, 8 (0.5%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and no one was institutionalized. There were 448 households, out of which 217 (48.4%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 188 (42.0%) were married-couple households, 50 (11.2%) were

cohabiting Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become incr ...

couple households, 117 (26.1%) had a female householder with no partner present, and 93 (20.8%) had a male householder with no partner present. 65 households (14.5%) were one person, and 20 (4.5%) were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 3.95. There were 352

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

(78.6% of all households). The age distribution was 551 people (31.0%) under the age of 18, 226 people (12.7%) aged 18 to 24, 523 people (29.4%) aged 25 to 44, 333 people (18.8%) aged 45 to 64, and 143 people (8.1%) who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 29.0years. For every 100 females, there were 108.9 males. There were 474 housing units at an average density of , of which 448 (94.5%) were occupied. Of these, 173 (38.6%) were owner-occupied, and 275 (61.4%) were occupied by renters.

Transportation

Calwa is served by Fresno Area Express buses.

References

{{authority control Census-designated places in Fresno County, California Populated places established in 1913 Census-designated places in California 1913 establishments in California