List of largest cities in California by population

This is a list of the 100 largest incorporated cities in the State of California ranked by population, based on the reported results of the 2010 United States Census.

Note: These are the actual incorporated areas of the listed cities, as opposed to metropolitan areas, urban areas, or counties, and will therefore differ from other available population listings. Also, the California State Department of Finance uses different methods for estimating population than the United States Census Bureau, and therefore estimates from the state government may differ from the Census returns.

Rank	City	Population	County	Image	Description
1	Los Angeles	3,792,621	Los Angeles		Los Angeles is one of the world's centers of media, business, and international trade. It's the second largest city in the entire United States, only behind New York City. It is also the home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of educational and professional fields and it is one of the most substantial economic engines of the United States. Los Angeles leads the world in producing popular entertainment such as television and recorded music.
2	San Diego	1,307,402	San Diego		Self proclaimed "America's finest city", San Diego sits on the border with Mexico and hosts miles of beaches and a number of U.S. military facilities within the area. San Diego's economy is largely composed of agriculture, biotechnology/biosciences, computer sciences, electronics manufacturing, defense-related manufacturing, ship repair and construction, and tourism.
3	San Jose	945,942	Santa Clara		San Jose was founded on November 29, 1777 as the first town in the Spanish colony of Nueva California, which later became Alta California. The town of San Jose served 1849-1851 as the first state capital, when California gained statehood in 1850. After more than 150 years as an agricultural center, San Jose grew due to some demand for housing from soldiers returning from World War II, as well as the city's aggressive expansion policy during the 1950s and 1960s as it annexed large portions of land area which helped increase its population. By the 1990s, San Jose's location within the then-booming local technology industry earned the city the nickname Capital of Silicon Valley.
4	San Francisco	805,235	San Francisco		San Francisco is a popular international tourist destination renowned for its beauty, cosmopolitan flair, steep rolling hills, and eclectic mix of Victorian and modern architecture. The city is surrounded by water on three sides and has many famous landmarks, such as the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, the cable cars and streetcars, Coit Tower, and Chinatown. The city is well-known for its left-wing politics and its diverse population, including large and long-established Asian American and LGBT communities. It is the most densely populated major city in California and is the second most densely populated major city in the United States, after New York City. It is also the only consolidated city-county in the state of California.
5	Fresno	510,365	Fresno		Fresno is at the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, a leading agricultural area of the United States and the world. Fresno is the closest major city to Yosemite National Park and Sequoia National Park. Fresno is the largest inland city in California.
6	Sacramento	489,488	Sacramento		Sacramento has been the state capital of California since 1854. Once the state's second largest city, Sacramento was a major distribution center during the California Gold Rush and was the western terminus of the Pony Express. The American River, where gold was first discovered in California in the middle of the 19th century, flows through the city. In the market boom between 2003 and 2008, the population of the metropolitan area reached close to 2.5 million people as suburbs such as Roseville, Lincoln, and Elk Grove grew. According to the 2010 census, Sacramento is the nineteenth most-populous metropolitan area in the United States.
7	Long Beach	462,257	Los Angeles		Long Beach is a coastal city lying in the Greater Los Angeles area metropolitan area. Long Beach partially borders the city of Los Angeles to its west and is home to the Long Beach Grand Prix and the RMS Queen Mary, which is docked in Long Beach Harbor. The Port of Long Beach is one of the world's largest shipping ports. The city also has a large oil industry; oil is found both underground and offshore. Manufacturers include aircraft, automobile parts, electronic and audiovisual equipment. It is also home to the headquarters for corporations such as Epson America, Molina Healthcare, and Scan Health Care. Long Beach has grown with the development of high-technology and aerospace industries in the area.
8	Oakland	390,724	Alameda		Oakland is a major West Coast port, and is home to several major corporations including Kaiser Permanente and Clorox, as well as being the corporate headquarters for nationwide businesses like Dreyer's and Cost Plus World Markets. Attractions include Jack London Square, the Oakland Museum of California, the Chabot Space and Science Center, Lake Merritt, the East Bay Regional Park District ridge line parks and preserves, and Chinatown.
9	Anaheim	365,463	Orange		Located in Orange County, California, Anaheim is the most populous city in the county and second largest in terms of land area; it is known for its theme parks, sports teams, and convention center.
10	Bakersfield	347,483	Kern		Bakersfield sits at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, an especially petroleum-rich area of California. Bakersfield is known for its musical achievements such as its own genre called the "Bakersfield Sound". Bakersfield is also in close proximity with The Sequoia National Forest.
11	Santa Ana	324,528	Orange		County Seat of Orange County. Home to the famous Bowers museum, Discovery Science Center, and John Wayne Airport.
12	Riverside	303,871	Riverside		Riverside is the most populous city of Southern California's Inland Empire region. Riverside is the birthplace of California's citrus industry and home to the University of California, Riverside (UCR). Its downtown is home to the Mission Inn, one of the two historic landmark hotels in California. The Mission Inn Festival of Lights is said to be the 3rd largest Christmas lights display in the nation.
13	Stockton	291,707	San Joaquin	File:Stockton skyline.jpeg	Stockton is at the heart of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and is sometimes considered the divider between the Sacramento Valley and the San Joaquin Valley. For much of the later 19th century, starting with the Gold Rush, Stockton was one of the largest cities in the state, for a while the third largest city. With a sea port on the San Joaquin River, it was an important agricultural and shipping center, roles which it continues to fulfill.
14	Chula Vista	243,916	San Diego		A South Bay suburban city of San Diego, Chula Vista is just seven miles (11 km) from the Mexican border. One of the most economically and culturally diverse cities in Southern California.
15	Fremont	214,089	Alameda		Fremont was created as a single city in 1956, from the unification of several unincorporated communities that had historically been small but grew rapidly in the years after World War II.
16	Irvine	212,375	Orange		Irvine is a planned city in Orange County, California, mainly developed by the Irvine Company since the 1960s. Irvine is home to the University of California, Irvine (UCI) and to a number of corporations, particularly in the technology sector. It is regarded for its good schools, jobs and housing by CNNMoney.com, for low crime by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Census Bureau ranks Irvine highly in median income.
17	San Bernardino	209,924	San Bernardino		San Bernardino is the second largest city in the Inland Empire metropolitan area of California, and the county seat of San Bernardino County, the largest county in geographic area in the 48 contiguous states. San Bernardino is home to California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) and a number of corporations in addition to the San Bernardino International Airport. San Bernardino is the gateway to the San Bernardino Mountains, including its ski resorts and numerous lakes.
18	Modesto	201,165	Stanislaus		Modesto is in the center of the Central Valley east of San Francisco and south of the capital Sacramento. The city is surrounded by fertile farmland. Its population is growing fast due to affordable housing in the area and is quickly becoming a bedroom community for commuters to Sacramento, Fresno, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
19	Oxnard	197,899	Ventura		One of only a handful of cities in the state that is the largest in its county, but not the county seat. It is an important agricultural center, with its distinction as the strawberry and lima bean capital of California. Oxnard is home to over 20 miles (32 km) of scenic, relatively uncrowded coastline. The beaches are large and the sand is exceptionally soft.
20	Fontana	196,069	San Bernardino		Home of the California Speedway.
21	Moreno Valley	193,365	Riverside		Incorporated in 1984, the city lies 65 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Moreno Valley is also home to the March Air Reserve Base.
22	Glendale	191,719	Los Angeles		Glendale is the focal point of the Verdugo Mountains subregion and is well-known for hosting a large Armenian-American community.
23	Huntington Beach	189,992	Orange		This Orange county coastal city is best known for its 8.5-mile (13.7 km) beach. It is often referred to as "Surf City" due to its long association with the sport of surfing. It often hosts surfing contests.
24	Santa Clarita	176,320	Los Angeles		Home to Six Flags Magic Mountain. Incorporated in 1987 as the union of several previously existing communities, including Canyon Country, Newhall, Saugus, and Valencia.
25	Garden Grove	170,883	Orange		Home to a large Vietnamese American community and the Crystal Cathedral.
26	Santa Rosa	167,815	Sonoma		Santa Rosa is the largest city in California's Wine Country and the Redwood Empire. The county seat of Sonoma County since 1854, it also grew as a center of agriculture, shipping, and industry. It is today still an important local center of business and tourism. The city actually suffered the most destruction of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, which destroyed Santa Rosa's entire downtown. Notable residents have included famed horticulturalist Luther Burbank, and Peanuts cartoonist Charles M. Schulz.
27	Oceanside	167,086	San Diego		The largest city in San Diego's North County, Oceanside is home to the longest wooden pier on the west coast and is directly south of Camp Pendleton, the busiest military base in the United States.
28	Rancho Cucamonga	165,269	San Bernardino		One of the newer cities in the state, Rancho Cucamonga was until the late 1970s a small, unincorporated rural area that incorporated as a city only in 1977.
29	Ontario	163,924	San Bernardino		Ontario is the third principal city of the Inland Empire area of California and home to the area's international airport and the region's largest shopping mall, Ontario Mills.
30	Lancaster	156,663	Los Angeles		Largest city of the California deserts.
31	Elk Grove	153,015	Sacramento		Elk Grove was a sleepy suburb of Sacramento until the housing boom of the 1990s and 2000s. Between the decades, the population has nearly tripled from around 50,000 to more than 150,000 inhabitants. The population has grown so much that Elk Grove has surpassed all of the other suburbs in size and inhabitants. in fact, the city was rated the fasted growing city in the United States in 2006. About 15 miles (24 km) from Downtown Sacramento, Elk Grove has emerged as a popular place for young families to live and commute to the job centers of the area.
32	Palmdale	152,750	Los Angeles		Commonly referred to as the Aerospace Capital of America. The city is the birthplace of the Space Shuttle, X-15, B-2 Spirit, F-117 Nighthawk, F-35 Lightning II, SR-71 Blackbird, Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, and many other aircraft that have been used in the United States Air Force, NASA and air forces and airlines around the world. It is the sixth largest city in Los Angeles County and one of the fastest growing cities in the United States.
33	Corona	152,374	Riverside		Corona is one of the cities farthest west in the Inland Empire of Southern California with a population of close to 150,000. It is known as the circle city due to Grand Boulevard's 3 mile circular layout. It is one of the greatest residential cities in the Inland Empire, but also has a large industrial portion on the northern half. It is known also to be the headquarters of well-known companies such as Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, Hansen Natural Corporation, Watson Pharmaceuticals, and West Coast Customs (featured on MTV's Pimp My Ride).
34	Salinas	150,441	Monterey		Salinas is known for being an agricultural center as well as being the hometown of famed writer and Nobel prize laureate John Steinbeck.
35	Pomona	149,058	Los Angeles		Home of the Los Angeles County Fair, the largest county fair in the United States.
36	Torrance	145,438	Los Angeles		Torrance, 21 square miles (54 km2), is situated 11 miles (18 km) south of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), 8 miles (13 km) north of the Port of Los Angeles, 30 miles (48 km) west of Disneyland and bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the west with 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of beach. Incorporated in 1921, it is the eighth largest city in Los Angeles County and the 36th largest city in California. Torrance averages 12.55 inches of rainfall per year.
37	Hayward	144,186	Alameda		Hayward was an historic salt and agricultural processing center and is the home of California State University, East Bay.
38	Escondido	143,911	San Diego		Situated in San Diego's north county, Escondido is home to the San Diego Wild Animal Park.
39	Sunnyvale	140,081	Santa Clara		Part of the Silicon Valley, Sunnyvale is home to several large tech company headquarters such as AMD, Yahoo!, and Palm.
40	Pasadena	137,122	Los Angeles		Premier City of the San Gabriel Valley subregion; home of the Rose Bowl and Rose Parade, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the California Institute of Technology.
41	Orange	136,416	Orange
42	Fullerton	135,161	Orange
43	Thousand Oaks	126,683	Ventura
44	Visalia	124,442	Tulare		Visalia is the oldest city between Stockton and Los Angeles. It is also one of the fastest growing cities in California.
45	Simi Valley	124,327	Ventura		Home of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
46	Concord	122,067	Contra Costa
47	Roseville	118,788	Placer		Roseville is a suburb of Sacramento. It is very family oriented with many parks and bike trails. The average income of this city is one of the highest in California, however, this city is known throughout California for being very affordable. Roseville holds the Galleria mall, which is the second biggest in Northern California, and has many stores for those of the higher class.
48	Santa Clara	116,468	Santa Clara		Santa Clara is located in the center of Silicon Valley, and is home to the headquarters of Intel, Applied Materials, Sun Microsystems, NVIDIA, Agilent Technologies, and many other high-tech companies.
49	Vallejo	115,942	Solano		Vallejo was home of the Mare Island U.S. Naval Shipyard, one of the most important naval shipyards in the country, from the 1850s until its closure in the 1990s. It was also very briefly the capital of California in 1852. It is the largest city in Solano County.
50	Victorville	115,903	San Bernardino
51	El Monte	113,475	Los Angeles
52	Berkeley	112,580	Alameda		Home to the University of California, Berkeley.
53	Downey	111,772	Los Angeles		Hometown of Tampa Bay Rays star Evan Longoria.
54	Costa Mesa	109,960	Orange
55	Inglewood	109,673	Los Angeles		Home of Randy's Donuts
56	San Buenaventura (Ventura)	106,433	Ventura
57	West Covina	106,098	Los Angeles
58	Norwalk	105,549	Los Angeles
59	Carlsbad	105,328	San Diego
60	Fairfield	105,321	Solano		Fairfield is the county seat of Solano County, but not the largest city in the county, which is Vallejo.
61	Richmond	103,701	Contra Costa
62	Murrieta	103,466	Riverside		Formerly just a small town outside of Temecula, Murrieta has become one of the fastest growing cities in the state.
63	Burbank	103,340	Los Angeles		Media Capital of the World.
64	Antioch	102,372	Contra Costa
65	Daly City	101,123	San Mateo		San Francisco's southern neighbor, Daly City houses the famous Cow Palace (which many people mistakenly believe is in San Francisco), as well as the largest Filipino population outside of the Philippines.
66	Temecula	100,097	Riverside		The heart of Southern California Wine Country. Goes by the motto of "Old Traditions, New Encounters".
67	Santa Maria	100,062	Santa Barbara		Santa Maria is known for their famous Santa Maria Style BBQ, the world's best strawberries, Allan Hancock College, and St. Joseph High School (Santa Maria, California). Santa Maria is also known for it's township with Orcutt, CA and for great Central Coast weather. It is also the largest city in Santa Barbara County, California.
68	El Cajon	99,478	San Diego
69	Rialto	99,171	San Bernardino
70	Clovis	97,218	Fresno
71	San Mateo	97,207	San Mateo
72	Compton	96,455	Los Angeles		An inner-suburb of Los Angeles, Compton is home to Richland Farms, one of the last urban farming communities in the Los Angeles metro area. Richland Farms is often caught in the battle between Compton's rich agricultural past and ideas for a brighter future than the crime-ridden image Compton has attained. This brighter future includes shopping centers with big box retailers, lofts, and a landscape that resembles the suburban communities to which many former city residents have moved.
73	South Gate	94,396	Los Angeles
74	Vista	93,834	San Diego
75	Mission Viejo	93,305	Orange
76	Vacaville	92,428	Solano
77	Carson	91,714	Los Angeles		Location of the Home Depot Center, housing both of the Major League Soccer teams for Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA.
78	Hesperia	90,173	San Bernardino
79	Redding	89,861	Shasta		Located on the banks of the Sacramento River, Redding is the largest city in California north of Sacramento. It is the gateway to numerous recreation areas including Shasta Lake, the Trinity Alps, and Mount Shasta. It is also home to the Sundial Bridge, designed by Santiago Calatrava, which is also the world's largest sundial.
80	Santa Monica	89,736	Los Angeles		Home of the world famous Santa Monica Pier.
81	Westminster	89,701	Orange
82	Santa Barbara	88,410	Santa Barbara		One of the oldest and most noted cities in California and the original site of one of four Alta California Spanish Presidios, Santa Barbara is now home to the most visited ecclesiastical structures in the Western United States, Mission Santa Barbara. It is also widely considered to be one of the most desirable spots to live in, due to its downtown Moorish-Spanish style architecture, coastal weather, beautiful mountain backdrops and numerous sandy beaches.
83	Chico	86,187	Butte		Chico is the retail hub of the mid-Sacramento Valley and is home to institutions such as Bidwell Park, California State University Chico, and Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.
84	Whittier	85,331	Los Angeles
85	Newport Beach	85,186	Orange		Newport Beach is one of the most affluent cities in the United States. The city is one of the largest and most influential in Orange County.
86	San Leandro	84,950	Alameda		Historically a town with dozens of huge cherry farms and a Spanish missionary ranch, San Leandro today is a rapidly growing city of worldwide industries and a suburb of Oakland. Founded in 1872, it is one of the oldest cities in California.
87	Hawthorne	84,293	Los Angeles		Hawthorne is known to rock and roll fans as the home of Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. The Wilson brothers' boyhood home was demolished in the late 1980s during the construction of the Century Freeway, although it was honored by the dedication of the Beach Boys Historic Landmark (California Landmark 1041) in May 2005.
88	San Marcos	83,781	San Diego	File:SanMarcospan.jpg
89	Citrus Heights	83,301	Sacramento
90	Alhambra	83,089	Los Angeles
91	Tracy	82,922	San Joaquin
92	Livermore	80,968	Alameda		Home of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
93	Buena Park	80,530	Orange	File:Buena Park Sign.jpg	Home of Knott's Berry Farm.
94	Lakewood	80,048	Los Angeles
95	Merced	78,958	Merced
96	Hemet	78,657	Riverside
97	Chino	77,983	San Bernardino
98	Menifee	77,519	Riverside
99	Lake Forest	77,264	Orange
100	Napa	76,915	Napa

See also

• California census statistical areas
• List of California urban areas
• List of California counties
• List of incorporated cities and towns in California
• List of largest California cities by area
• Largest cities in Southern California