Sacramento sits at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in the Sacramento Valley. The 2020 census counted 524,943 residents, and the wider metropolitan area has about 2.46 million. It is the county seat of Sacramento County and the seat of the California Legislature and the governor.
The city grew out of the settlement John Sutter founded in 1839 and was laid out in December 1848 as Sacramento City, named for the river. Residents adopted a charter in 1849 and the city was incorporated on February 27, 1850, which makes it the oldest incorporated city in California. It became the permanent state capital in 1854.