Novato's population is 53,225, according to the 2020 census.
When it comes to memorable North Bay cities, who could forget Novato and San Rafael? Well, the U.S. Census Bureau, apparently. The federal head-counting department issued a correction to its once-a-decade 2020 census numbers this week, bumping the Bay Area’s population from 3.2 million to 3.5 million after realizing it’s report last December had failed to include about a quarter-million residents in the San Rafael-Novato area.
North Marin residents shouldn’t feel completely ignored, however. The mistake wasn’t that they weren’t counted but, rather, they hadn’t been included in the Bay Area’s numbers. Novato and San Rafael are in company with other world-class U.S. cities—a similar mistake and adjustment was made in the New Orleans and Atlanta urban areas, according to the Associated Press.
