Anderson is a city in Shasta County, California, approximately 10 miles south of Redding. Its population is 11,323 as of the 2020 census, up from 9,932 from the 2010 census. Located 138 miles north of Sacramento, the city's roots are as a railroad town near the northern tip of the Central Valley of California. The city was named after ranch owner Elias Anderson, who granted the Oregon and California Railroad trackage rights and land for a station.