Dixon is a city in northeastern

Solano County Solano County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, its population was 453,491. The county seat is Fairfield. Solano County comprises the Vallejo–Fairfield metropolitan statistical area, which is a ...

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 United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, located from the state capital,

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

. It has a

hot-summer mediterranean A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typica ...

climate on the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

scale. Its population was 18,988 at the 2020 United States census. Other nearby cities include

Vacaville Vacaville is a city located in Solano County, California, United States. It is located from Sacramento, California, Sacramento and from San Francisco, it is on the edge of the Sacramento Valley in Northern California. The city was founded in ...

, Winters,

Davis Davis may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Davis (Antarctica) * Davis Island (Palmer Archipelago) * Davis Station, an Australian base and research outpost in the Vestfold Hills * Davis Valley, Queen Elizabeth Land Canada * Davis, Sa ...

Woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

, and Rio Vista.

History

The first semi-permanent European settlement to develop in the Dixon area emerged during the California Gold Rush of the mid-19th century when the community of Silveyville was founded in 1852 by Elijah Silvey as a halfway point between the Pacific coast and the rich gold fields of Sacramento along a route commonly traveled by miners. In 1868, Central Pacific railroad came through the area and missed Silveyville by a few miles. As a result, local leaders decided to physically relocate Silveyville closer to the tracks in order to enjoy the benefits of commerce and travel. One of the first buildings that still stands in Dixon from the 1871 move is the Dixon Methodist Church located at 209 N. Jefferson Street. Originally, the city was named "Dicksville" after Thomas Dickson who donated 10 acres of his land for the construction of a railroad depot following the completion of the tracks and subsequent relocation of Silveyville to the now-Dixon area. However, when the first rail shipment of merchandise arrived from San Francisco in 1872, it was mistakenly addressed to "Dixon"—a name that has been used since, mainly out of simplicity. Up to now, the urban landscape of the town can be seen to have developed mostly in between the railroad tracks and Interstate-80. Dixon City Hall

As of 2024 the Dixon city council consists of Steve Bird, Mayor, Kevin Johnson, Vice Mayor, representing District 3, Jim Ernest, representing District 1, Thom Bogue, representing District 2, and Don Hendershot, representing District 4. The city operates a municipal police and fire department, and water system & wastewater treatment plant.

Geography

Dixon is located at (38.449108, -121.826872). 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 city has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it (1.36%) is water.

Demographics

2020

The 2020 United States census reported that Dixon had a population of 18,988. The population density was . The racial makeup of Dixon was 51.5%

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 ...

, 3.1%

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 ...

, 1.6% Native American, 3.6% Asian, 0.5%

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 ...

, 23.1% from other races, and 16.6% from two or more races.

Hispanic or Latino ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While many use the terms interchangeably, for example, the United States Census Bureau ...

of any race were 43.7% of the population. The census reported that 100.0% of the population lived in households, 4 people (0.0%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and no one was institutionalized. There were 6,374 households, out of which 40.0% included children under the age of 18, 56.1% were married-couple households, 7.5% 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, 22.9% had a female householder with no partner present, and 13.6% had a male householder with no partner present. 17.5% of households were one person, and 8.6% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.98. There were 4,846

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 ...

(76.0% of all households). The age distribution was 24.7% under the age of 18, 8.9% aged 18 to 24, 27.1% aged 25 to 44, 25.4% aged 45 to 64, and 14.0% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 37.0years. For every 100 females, there were 97.1 males. There were 6,554 housing units at an average density of , of which 6,374 (97.3%) were occupied. Of these, 65.9% were owner-occupied, and 34.1% were occupied by renters. In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that 17.2% of the population were foreign-born. Of all people aged 5 or older, 67.2% spoke only English at home, 28.2% spoke

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

, 2.6% spoke other

Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

, and 2.0% spoke Asian or Pacific Islander languages. Of those aged 25 or older, 83.9% were high school graduates and 24.3% had a bachelor's degree. The median household income was $98,798, and the

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

was $42,163. About 7.2% of families and 8.4% of the population were below the poverty line.

2010

The 2010 United States Census reported that Dixon had a population of 18,351. The population density was . The racial makeup of Dixon was 13,023 (71.0%)

, 562 (3.1%)

, 184 (1.0%) Native American, 671 (3.7%) Asian, 58 (0.3%)

, 2,838 (15.5%) from other races, and 1,015 (5.5%) from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 7,426 persons (40.5%). The Census reported that 100% of the population lived in households. There were 5,856 households, out of which 2,773 (47.4%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 3,550 (60.6%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 790 (13.5%) had a female householder with no husband present, 339 (5.8%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 327 (5.6%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 26 (0.4%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 867 households (14.8%) were made up of individuals, and 301 (5.1%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.13. There were 4,679

(79.9% of all households); the average family size was 3.47. The population was spread out, with 5,349 people (29.1%) under the age of 18, 1,816 people (9.9%) aged 18 to 24, 5,026 people (27.4%) aged 25 to 44, 4,608 people (25.1%) aged 45 to 64, and 1,552 people (8.5%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33.3 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.8 males. There were 6,172 housing units at an average density of , of which 3,902 (66.6%) were owner-occupied, and 1,954 (33.4%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.0%; the rental vacancy rate was 5.2%. 12,149 people (66.2% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 6,201 people (33.8%) lived in rental housing units.

Notable sites

The Jackson Fay Brown House and the Dixon Carnegie library are on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. , Dixon residents Matt and Mark Cooley, owners of Cool Patch Pumpkins, hold the

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

for "largest maze, temporary corn/crop maze". The maze measured 163,853.83 m² or 40.489 acres. In 2012, Cool Patch Pumpkins broke its own record with a 53-acre maze. In 2014 Cool Patch Pumpkins again broke its own record by growing a 60-acre maze. A

Milk Farm Restaurant Milk Farm Restaurant was a restaurant in Dixon, California off I-80, that played a big part in Dixon's dairy farming, dairy economy during World War II. It was considered to be the city's landmark. History Karl A. Hess had the idea to build t ...

sign, measuring 100 feet tall, was built in May 1963 and still stands today at the intersection of State Route 113 and Interstate 80. Dixon is home to the Dixon May Fair, California's oldest fair. The fair began in 1885 as a May Day celebration and predates the Solano County Fair which first occurred in 1949. A stage on the fairground was named in honor of country singer Jon Pardi, who grew up in Dixon.

Notable people

* Spencer Webb - was a

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

for the

Oregon Ducks The Oregon Ducks are the College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Oregon, located in Eugene, Oregon, Eugene. The Ducks compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCA ...

Jon Pardi Jonathan Ryan Pardi (born May 20, 1985) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to Capitol Records Nashville, Capitol Nashville, he has released five studio albums: ''Write You a Song'' (2014), ''California Sunrise'' (2016), ...

- Country music singer and songwriter *

Nick Watney Nicholas Alan Watney (born April 25, 1981) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. The highlight of Watney's career is his victory at the 2011 WGC-Cadillac Championship. In July 2011, Watney won the AT&T National and broke ...

- Professional golfer * Dave Ball - Professional NFL player *

Espinoza Paz Isidro Chávez Espinoza (born 29 October 1981), better known as Espinoza Paz, is a Latin Grammy nominated Mexican musician and songwriter of regional Mexican music, specializing in the styles of Sinaloan banda, norteño, mariachi, and countr ...

- Mexican musician and composer *

Joe Craven Joe Craven is an American freestyle folk, world and roots music multi-instrumentalist, singer and educator. He is the Director of RiverTunes Music Camp and a Co-Director of the Wintergrass Youth Academy. He plays a wide variety of string instr ...

- Professional musician and music educator

Transportation

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the ori ...

and

California State Route 113 State Route 113 (SR 113) is a north–south state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs from around in the Sacramento Valley west of Rio Vista, California, Rio Vista at California State Route 12, State Route 12 to California Sta ...

pass through Dixon. The

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

mainline between Oakland and Sacramento also passes through Dixon. This line was owned by

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 ...

until its merger with Union Pacific on September 11, 1996. The track was constructed in 1868 by the

California Pacific Railroad The California Pacific Railroad Company (abbreviated Cal. P. R. R. or Cal-P) was incorporated in 1865 at San Francisco, California as the ''California Pacific Rail Road Company''. It was renamed the ''California Pacific Railroad Extension Compan ...

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

Capitol Corridor The ''Capitol Corridor'' is a passenger train route in Northern California operated by Amtrak between San Jose, California, San Jose, in the Bay Area, and Auburn, California, Auburn, in the Sacramento Valley. The route is named after the two ...

also passes through Dixon over the UP mainline but the nearest station stops are at

and Fairfield–Vacaville. Amtrak's

California Zephyr The ''California Zephyr'' is a Amtrak Long Distance, long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago, Illinois, Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville station, Emeryville), via Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha, Denver, Sa ...

and

Coast Starlight The ''Coast Starlight'' is a Amtrak Long Distance, long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States between Seattle and Los Angeles via Portland, Oregon, Portland and the San Francisco Bay Area. The train, ...

also pass through Dixon without stopping. In 2006, the City of Dixon finished construction on a train station near downtown Dixon. However, there are currently no scheduled stops at the station. The building has, for the time being, been converted to the city's Chamber of Commerce. The Dixon Readi-Ride is a

dial-a-ride Demand-responsive transport (DRT), also known as demand-responsive transit, demand-responsive service,
US National Trans ...

shuttlebus service. The Dixon Park & Ride serves

Fairfield and Suisun Transit Fairfield Transit (FAST) provides general public fixed route bus service through eight local routes. All FAST buses are wheelchair accessible and most are equipped with bike racks. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of ...

route 30 which runs between

Fairfield Transportation Center The Fairfield Transportation Center or FTC is a bus station in Fairfield, California, United States. The facility serves as a bus hub for transportation on local, commuter, and long-distance bus services. There are plans to expand the center. Casu ...

and

downtown Sacramento Downtown Sacramento is the central business district of the city of Sacramento, California, United States. Downtown is generally defined as the area south of the American River, east of the Sacramento River, north of Broadway, and west of 16th S ...

. The Dixon Readi-Ride a

dial-a-ride Demand-responsive transport (DRT), also known as demand-responsive transit, demand-responsive service,
US National Trans ...

service also stops here. It has 89 parking spots. The bus service runs approximately 10 hours per day on route 30.

Economy

Top employers

According to the city's 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, the top employers in the city are: Dixon was the home of the

Gymboree Gymboree is a sub brand of The Children's Place. Gymboree began with operating retail stores between the early 1970s and the later 2010s. It was founded by Joan Barnes. History Early years In 1986, the company opened a chain of clothing stores ...

Corporation's only distribution center prior to the bankruptcy and closing of the company in 2019.

Media

The ''Dixon Independent Voice'' was founded in 1993 (first as ''The Dixon Newspaper'') and is the main paper of circulation today. It is published weekly and is owned by Messenger Publishing Group. The ''Dixon Tribune'' newspaper was founded November 14, 1874., but ceased publication after its January 31, 2024 issue. Historically, the

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

ran a

shortwave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using radio frequencies in the shortwave bands (SW). There is no official definition of the band range, but it always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (app ...

transmitter site that was formerly owned and operated by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

. NBC built the site in 1944, and it broadcast under the call signs KNBA, KNBH, KNBI, KNBC, and KNBX. The station was closed between September 2, 1979, and October 1, 1983, and briefly reopened for Spanish language broadcasting until 1988. The station served as a relay to both NBC International programming overseas, and as a relay of

KNBR KNBR may refer to: * KNBR (AM), a radio station (680 AM) licensed to serve San Francisco, California, United States * KNBR-FM, a radio station (104.5 FM) licensed to serve San Francisco, California {{Call sign disambiguation ...

and its programming overseas, mostly the Pacific area. There is also a military transmission site, the Dixon Naval Radio Transmitter Facility.

Education

Dixon is served by the

Dixon Unified School District Dixon Unified School District is a public school district based in Solano County, California, United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North Am ...

, and also has a few private educational institutions. High schools * Dixon High School *Maine Prairie High School (continuation school) Middle schools *Dixon Montessori Charter School *John Knight Middle School (formerly known as C.A. Jacobs Middle School) *Neighborhood Christian Middle School Elementary schools *Silveyville (closed as of 2008) *Anderson *Gretchen Higgins *Tremont *Neighborhood Christian School *Dixon Montessori Charter School (now located in Silveyville facility) *Easter Seals Special Education Center (shares Silveyville facility with DMCS)

References

External links

* {{authority control 1878 establishments in California Cities in Solano County, California Cities in the San Francisco Bay Area Incorporated cities and towns in California Populated places established in 1878