Rodeo (; Spanish for "Cattle roundup") is a census-designated place (CDP) located in Contra Costa County, California, in the East Bay sub-region of the San Francisco Bay Area, on the eastern shore of San Pablo Bay, 25 miles northeast of San Francisco. The population was 9,653 at the 2020 census. The place is named for the rodeos common in the late 19th century. Cattle from the surrounding hills were regularly driven down through the old town district to a loading dock on the shoreline of San Pablo Bay for shipment to slaughterhouses, a practice which continued through the early 20th century. Rodeo is served by the Interstate 80 freeway and State Route 4 and used to be served by the first transcontinental railroad which still passes through Rodeo. Rodeo has not been a stop on the railroad since the 1950s.
History
Rodeo is located on tracts of land that were purchased by ranchers and businessmen John and Patrick Tormey from the Ygnacio Martinez Rancho El Pinole estate in 1865 and 1867.
In partnership with the Union Stockyard Co. in 1890, Patrick Tormey (for whom the nearby town of Tormey is named) sold some of the land to them and began to lay out plans and make large investments for the stockyard facilities for a meatpacking and canning industry. Eventually, streets were graded and lots were prepared for homesteads, creating the town of Rodeo.
After recession in 1893, Patrick Tormey struggled to keep finances going as business began to close, culminating with the bankruptcy of the Union Stockyard Co. Patrick Tormey was plagued with lawsuits over the bankruptcy for the remainder of his life.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , 81% is land, 19% is water.
Demographics
Rodeo first appeared as an unincorporated community in the 1970 U.S. census;
!Pop 2010
!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" |Pop 2020
!% 2000
!% 2010
!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" |% 2020
|-
|White alone (NH)
|3,936
|2,890
|style='background: #ffffe6; |2,363
|45.15%
|33.30%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |24.48%
|-
|Black or African American alone (NH)
|1,384
|1,370
|style='background: #ffffe6; |1,400
|15.88%
|15.79%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |14.50%
|-
|Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)
|50
|31
|style='background: #ffffe6; |30
|0.57%
|0.36%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.31%
|-
|Asian alone (NH)
|1,389
|1,727
|style='background: #ffffe6; |2,265
|15.93%
|19.90%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |23.46%
|-
|Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)
|41
|62
|style='background: #ffffe6; |70
|0.47%
|0.71%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.73%
|-
|Other race alone (NH)
|28
|20
|style='background: #ffffe6; |94
|0.32%
|0.23%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.97%
|-
|Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)
|400
|445
|style='background: #ffffe6; |572
|4.59%
|5.13%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |5.93%
|-
|Hispanic or Latino (any race)
|1,489
|2,134
|style='background: #ffffe6; |2,859
|17.08%
|24.59%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |29.62%
|-
|Total
|8,717
|8,679
|style='background: #ffffe6; |9,653
|100.00%
|100.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |100.00%
|}
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Rodeo had a population of 9,653. The population density was . The median age was 39.3 years. 22.1% of residents were under the age of 18 and 16.2% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there were 95.3 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.4 males age 18 and over.
There were 3,120 households, out of which 35.1% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 47.9% were married-couple households, 5.8% were cohabiting couple households, 28.6% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present, and 17.7% had a male householder with no spouse or partner present. 21.2% of households were one person, and 9.3% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 3.04. There were 2,280 families (73.1% of all households).
Income and poverty
The median household income was $88,819, and the per capita income was $38,287. About 8.4% of families and 10.2% of the population were below the poverty line.
Education
Rodeo is in the John Swett Unified School District.<!--UNI 18990-->
The Rodeo Library of the Contra Costa County Library is located in Rodeo.
Notable people
Rodeo is the hometown of the following:
- Billie Joe Armstrong (guitar, lead vocals) and Mike Dirnt (bass, backing vocals) of punk rock band Green Day
- Lefty Gomez, Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher for the New York Yankees (active 1930–1943)
- Eric the Actor of The Howard Stern Show
- Sabrina Rogers – Two-time Grammy winner, trumpet player with the Mariachi Divas de Cindy Shea