# Elk Grove Service Footprint Check

## Bottom line

Your punchline mostly holds up.

Using California's 2025 city population estimates and a statewide hospital location dataset, Elk Grove appears to be the **26th-largest city in California** and one of only **three California cities with 150,000+ residents that have zero open general acute care hospitals inside city limits**.

The other two are Santa Clarita and Sunnyvale.

## The funny part, quantified

As of **March 12, 2026**:

- **Hospitals in Elk Grove city limits:** `0` open hospitals of any type in the statewide hospital dataset, and `0` open general acute care hospitals.
- **Chick-fil-A in Elk Grove:** `2` open locations.
- **In-N-Out in Elk Grove:** `2` open locations.
- **Costco in Elk Grove:** `1` warehouse.
- **Hobby Lobby in Elk Grove:** `1` store.
- **High schools:** Elk Grove Unified says it has `9` comprehensive high schools and `4` alternative high schools districtwide; that is a district figure, not a pure city-limits count.

## Peer-city comparison

Elk Grove's lack of an in-city hospital looks unusual when you compare it to nearby population peers.

| City | 2025 population | Open general acute care hospitals | Open general acute care beds |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| Ontario | 184,404 | 2 | 267 |
| Elk Grove | 182,842 | 0 | 0 |
| Santa Rosa | 178,452 | 4 | 595 |
| Lancaster | 177,768 | 1 | 420 |
| Rancho Cucamonga | 175,992 | 1 | 55 |
| Oceanside | 174,340 | 1 | 397 |
| Hayward | 162,359 | 1 | 217 |
| Salinas | 160,645 | 2 | 441 |
| Corona | 159,157 | 2 | 238 |
| Roseville | 158,494 | 2 | 668 |
| Pomona | 153,042 | 2 | 505 |
| Escondido | 150,425 | 2 | 580 |

## Large-city outliers

Among California cities with at least 150,000 residents, the hospital-free list is very short:

| City | 2025 population | Open hospitals of any type | Open general acute care hospitals |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| Santa Clarita | 232,377 | 0 | 0 |
| Elk Grove | 182,842 | 0 | 0 |
| Sunnyvale | 159,673 | 0 | 0 |

That makes Elk Grove an outlier even among large cities.

## Interpretation

The cleanest version of the argument is not "Elk Grove has lots of chain retail and no healthcare at all." That would overstate it, because residents do have access to hospitals in nearby Sacramento, Folsom, Carmichael, and Roseville.

The stronger and more defensible claim is:

> Elk Grove is a very large California city whose city limits have accumulated plenty of retail anchors, but not a hospital.

That is a real pattern in the public data.

## Files generated locally

- `outputs/elk_grove_closest_peers.csv`
- `outputs/ca_large_cities_hospital_comparison.csv`
- `outputs/ca_large_cities_without_general_acute_hospital.csv`
- `scripts/analyze_elk_grove_services.py`

## Sources

- California Department of Finance city population workbook: <https://dof.ca.gov/media/docs/forecasting/Demographics/estimates/e-5-population-and-housing-estimates-for-cities-counties-and-the-state-2020-2025/E-5_2025_InternetVersion.xlsx>
- California hospitals ArcGIS dataset query: <https://services9.arcgis.com/mt4kvYhNXSa5AqLG/ArcGIS/rest/services/Hospitals_in_California/FeatureServer/0/query?where=STATE%3D%27CA%27&outFields=NAME,CITY,TYPE,STATUS,BEDS,COUNTY&returnGeometry=false&f=json>
- Chick-fil-A Elk Grove Marketplace: <https://www.chick-fil-a.com/locations/ca/elk-grove-marketplace>
- Chick-fil-A Elk Grove Blvd & Wymark: <https://www.chick-fil-a.com/locations/ca/elk-grove-blvd-wymark>
- In-N-Out Elk Grove at 9188 E Stockton Blvd: <https://locations.in-n-out.com/116-Elk-Grove>
- In-N-Out Elk Grove at 7620 Elk Grove Blvd: <https://locations.in-n-out.com/388-Elk-Grove>
- Costco Elk Grove warehouse: <https://www.costco.com/warehouse-locations/elk-grove-ca-1274.html>
- Hobby Lobby Elk Grove store: <https://www.hobbylobby.com/stores/search/533>
- EGUSD example high-school source noting districtwide count: <https://pghs.egusd.net/Our-School/General-Info/About-Us/index.html>