ABOUT US
The Hamilton-Sacramento Sister City connection was established on May 25, 1988, and endorsed by the Sacramento City Council on December 6 of that year.
​
Sacramento is the capital of California, the most populous state of the United States of America. Hamilton is both the seat and largest city of the Waikato region of New Zealand.
Though located on opposite ends of the Pacific region—Hamilton in the southwest, Sacramento in the northeast—the two have much in common. Both cities are located in river valleys, and have agriculturally-based economies.
​
​
Here's a few interesting facts illustrating what the two cities have in common:
Hamilton, NZ and Sacramento, CA are located at roughly opposite latitudes below and above the equator respectively (37.79° S and 38.58° N, respectively), but Hamilton has an oceanic climate (Cfb) while Sacramento has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa).
Sacramento is located at the confluence of two rivers. One of which, the American, flows from the Sierra Nevada Mtns.
On the other hand, the Waikato River runs through Hamilton, which flows from Mt. Ruapehu; both cities have rivers that flow westward from mountain sources! Both the American and Waikato eventually flow into the Pacific Ocean. The American via the Sacramento, then the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, next Suisun Bay, and finally out the Golden Gate into the northeast Pacific. The Waikato flows into the Tasman Sea at Port Waikato.
​