Crime Scene and Trauma Cleanup in Pacheco, CA

Pacheco is an unincorporated census-designated place in Contra Costa County, bordered by Martinez to the north and west, Concord to the east, and Pleasant Hill to the south.

The town was laid out in 1857 by Dr. J. H. Carothers and named for Don Salvio Pacheco, the grantee of the Rancho Monte del Diablo Mexican land grant.

From 1851 until the early 1870s, Pacheco was central Contra Costa County's shipping port: ocean-going vessels sailed up Pacheco Slough to load grain from the Ygnacio, San Ramon and Tassajara valleys, and warehouses and a flour mill lined the creek.

A series of fires and floods, plus an earthquake in the 1860s, destroyed the town and filled the slough with silt, ending its days as a port; most residents drifted away to Todos Santos, the town now known as Concord.

Pacheco's post office opened in 1859, closed in 1913, and reopened in 1955 - it still operates today, unusual for a community with no city government of its own.

The 2020 census counted 4,183 people in Pacheco, all packed into just 0.75 square miles - a density of about 5,570 people per square mile.

Pacheco had 1,630 households in 2020, averaging 2.57 people each, and 78.3% of its homes were owner-occupied.

In August 2012, North Pacheco voters rejected annexation into the city of Martinez by a single vote, 40 to 39, choosing to remain unincorporated under the county Board of Supervisors.

Pacheco children attend schools in the Mount Diablo Unified School District.

Pacheco has become steadily more diverse: Hispanic and Latino residents made up about 32% of the population in 2020, up from about 12% in 2000.