Rancho Cordova is a city in Sacramento County, California, United States which incorporated in 2003. It is part of the Sacramento Metropolitan Area. The population of Rancho Cordova was 64,776 at the 2010 census. Rancho Cordova is the Sacramento area's largest employment sub-center, attracting over 50,000 commuters. The city is served by Sacramento Regional Transit's various bus lines and the Gold Line light rail line, though fewer than 0.1 percent of commuters to Rancho Cordova use the line according to the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
Originally called Mayhew's Crossing and Hangtown Crossing (c. 1855) during the Gold Rush era, the area was renamed Mayhew Station and Mills Station (c. 1900), respectively. The city itself was named after the Cordova Vineyard, which was located in the center of the Rancho Rio de los Americanos land grant. Original names of the town included Cordova Vineyards and Cordova Village, before it was officially named Rancho Cordova when a post office was established in the community in 1955. In the Gold Rush era of mid 19th century California, certain Placer mining activities took place in the Rancho Cordova environs, some traces of which disturbance are extant. The elevation of the generally level terrain is approximately 118 feet above mean sea level. Lone Star Gravel Company and other companies have historically extracted younger gravels at depths of 30 to 40 feet without encountering groundwater, which is characteristically found at about 100 feet . Partially confined groundwater generally flows to the southwest.For many years, Rancho Cordova was the Community called Mills, located in the eastern part of the Brighton Township.
The City of Rancho Cordova is 33.9 miles, 33.5 being land, the rest of it being water.