Lancaster, California

Lancaster is a charter city in northern Los Angeles County, in the Antelope Valley of the western Mojave Desert in Southern California. At the 2020 census it had 173,516 residents, making it the 158th most populous city in the United States and the 31st in California. It is a twin city with its southern neighbor Palmdale, and together they are the principal cities of the Antelope Valley region. The city lies roughly 70 miles north of downtown Los Angeles by way of Interstate 5 and State Route 14 and about 9 miles south of the Kern County line, cut off from the Los Angeles Basin by the San Gabriel Mountains and from Bakersfield and the San Joaquin Valley by the Tehachapi Mountains. Lancaster began as a settlement tied to the Southern Pacific Railroad, which replaced the stage routes that had crossed the valley, and the origin of its name is unclear. It was incorporated in 1977, when it had about 37,000 residents, and has grown to more than 173,000. It is governed through a council and city manager system.