Antioch is the third-most populous city in Contra Costa County, California, United States.

In 1848, John Marsh, owner of Rancho Los Méganos, one of the largest ranches in California, built a landing on the San Joaquin River in what is now Antioch.

It included a pier extending well out into the river, enabling vessels drawing 15 feet (4.6 m) of water to tie up there in any season of the year.

The landing also included a slaughterhouse, a smokehouse for curing hams, rodeo grounds, and a 1+1⁄2-story dwelling, embellished with fretwork, that was brought around the Horn to serve as a home for the mayordomo and his wife.

This new industry resulted in the founding of the towns of Nortonville, Somersville, Stewartville, and Black Diamond (now Pittsburg), and added greatly to the economic activity of the Antioch area.

The copper bubble eventually burst, to the dismay of the citizens, and petroleum was first drilled for near Antioch in 1865, but not enough oil was found to make a decent profit.

[16] The city's historic Chinese community, which was forcibly segregated,[22] was estimated to number in the hundreds in the late 1800s.

[23] The city's early history included banning Chinese residents from walking the streets after sundown.

[26] Antioch is mainly a bedroom community, with most adults working in larger cities toward Oakland and San Francisco.

Only it's not, according to a Bay Area News Group analysis of sex offender addresses and census data."

The report concluded that the 94509 zip code ranked only 39th in the state with 1.5 sex offenders per 1,000, with Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose, Bethel Island and Vallejo ZIP codes ranked in the top ten.

[35] In October 2010, Allen Payton returned to the news business and established the Antioch Herald, first online, then in May 2011 he began publishing a monthly print edition.

The racial makeup of Antioch was 50,083 (48.9%) White, 17,667 (17.3%) African American, 887 (0.9%) Native American, 10,709 (10.5%) Asian (5.7% Filipino, 1.4% Chinese, 0.9% Indian, 0.7% Vietnamese, 0.2% Korean, 0.2% Japanese, 0.1% Laotian, 0.1% Pakistani, 0.1% Cambodian), 817 (0.8%) Pacific Islander, 14,310 (14.0%) from other races, and 7,899 (7.7%) from two or more races.

Hispanic or Latino of any race were 32,436 persons (31.7%); 22.6% of Antioch is Mexican, 2.2% Salvadoran, 1.2% Nicaraguan, 1.2% Puerto Rican, 0.7% Peruvian, 0.4% Guatemalan, and 0.2% Cuban.

According to the city's 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report,[52] the top employers in the city are: Antioch has four Historic Places or Buildings on the National Register of Historic Places: the Black Diamond Mines, Roswell Butler Hard House, Riverview Union High School Building and the Shannon-Williamson Ranch.

It now presents a wide variety of entertainment opportunities, including classic films, live theatre, concerts, symphony, ballet, comedy and is host to numerous local dance and community-based organizations, such as the Antioch Rivertown Theatre Group.

It also hosts the Saturday Summer Concert Series, Delta Blues Festival,[54] and Holiday De Lights, along with other community events.

Established in 1980, Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge was the first national wildlife refuge in the country established for the purpose of protecting endangered plants and insects, specifically the Apodemia mormo langei known by the common name Lange's metalmark butterfly, Antioch Dunes evening primrose, and Contra Costa wallflower.

There is a public fishing pier in town, and another on the San Joaquin River along the Antioch/Oakley Regional Shoreline out near the Antioch Bridge.

In late 2008, western burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia) moved into a 25-acre (10 ha) housing development slated for construction.

[61] In November 2009 the California Department of Fish & Game gave the developer permission to evict the owls before nesting season begins in February 2010.

The birds regularly reuse burrows for years, and there is no requirement that suitable new habitat be found for the owls.

Despite being listed as a Species of Special Concern (a pre-listing category under the Endangered Species Act) by the California Department of Fish and Game in 1979, California's population declined 60 percent from the 1980s to the early 1990s, and continues to decline at roughly 8 percent per year.

[66] To assist the displaced Antioch owls in finding new homes a group of local residents and the environmental group Friends of Marsh Creek Watershed constructed six artificial burrows at a designated burrowing owl habitat preserve in the hills north of Prewett Water Park.

To commemorate the paper's formation, a copy of its first issue has been framed and hangs over the desk of the present editor.

The sole news item is a report with editorial comment on a women's suffrage meeting that had just been held in the town.

The Antioch Press published its first issue in January 2001, direct mailing newspapers to all homes and businesses in the city twice monthly, and then weekly from September 2005 until the 2008 economic crash.

Antioch's primary surface transportation link is via the freeway State Route 4, both westward a half-hour's drive to Interstate 80 and the road network of the Bay Area, or alternatively eastward to connect with Interstate 5 at the Central Valley city of Stockton, California.

State Route 160 leads north from Highway 4, crossing the San Joaquin River via the Antioch Bridge and through the Delta to Sacramento.

Although public transportation agency Tri-Delta Transit is the predominant provider of public transportation in the Antioch area, County Connection bus #93X also serves Antioch going to John Muir Medical Center, Mitchell Park n' Ride, Railroad Castlewood, Delta Fair Sommersville and Hillcrest Park 'n Ride.