List of cities in California (by population)

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The following is a list showing the 100 largest incorporated cities in the state of California ranked by population, based on California Department of Finance (CDF) estimates for January 1, 2010¹ and United States Census Bureau (USC) estimates from July 1, 2008.² Census Bureau populations are predominantly lower and not accounted for by date difference, mostly due to discrepancies over immigrants, which the California government claims causes financial burden.

Note: These estimates are for 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 two organizations will differ as well.

Rank	City	Population (CDF 1-10)	Population (USC 7-09)	County	Description
1	Los Angeles	4,094,764	3,831,000	Los Angeles	Los Angeles is one of the world's centers of culture, media, academics,^{citation needed} business, and international trade. It is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and it is one of the most substantial economic engines of the United States. Los Angeles also leads the world in producing popular entertainment — such as motion picture, television, video games and recorded music — which forms the base of its international fame and global status.Los Angeles is rated one of the top 50 cities of the U.S.
2	San Diego	1,376,173	1,306,000	San Diego	Located on the border between Mexico and the United States, San Diego hosts miles of beaches and a number of U.S. Military facilities. San Diego's economy is largely composed of agriculture, biotechnology/biosciences, computer sciences, electronics manufacturing, defense-related manufacturing, financial and business services, ship-repair and construction, software development, telecommunications, and tourism.
3	San Jose	1,023,083	965,000	Santa Clara	San Jose is the tenth largest city in the United States, the largest city in Northern California and the largest in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was founded on November 29, 1777 as the first town in the Spanish colony of Nueva California, which later became Alta California.³ The city served as a farming community to support Spanish military installations at San Francisco and Monterey. When California gained statehood in 1850, San Jose served as its first capital.⁴ After more than 150 years as an agricultural center, San Jose experienced increased demand for housing from soldiers and other veterans returning from World War II, as well as aggressive expansion during the 1950s and 1960s by annexing more land area. By the 1990s, San Jose's location within the booming local technology industry earned the city the nickname Capital of Silicon Valley.
4	San Francisco	856,095	815,000	San Francisco	San Francisco is a popular international tourist destination renowned for its steep rolling hills, eclectic mix of Victorian and modern architecture, and famous landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, the cable cars, Coit Tower, and Chinatown. The city is also known for its diverse, cosmopolitan population, including large and long-established Asian American and LGBT communities. It is the second most densely populated major city in the United States, behind only New York City and from the time of the Gold Rush until the 1920s it was the largest city in California in terms of population. It was also one of the first cities in California to be incorporated, and is the only consolidated city-county in the state of California.San Francisco is rated in the top 50 cities of the U.S
5	Fresno	502,303	476,050	Fresno	Fresno is at the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, a leading agricultural area of the United States. Fresno is the closest major city to Yosemite National Park. Fresno is also the largest inland city in California
6	Long Beach	494,709	463,789	Los Angeles	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, and home furnishings. 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.
7	Sacramento	486,189	463,794	Sacramento	Sacramento is at the heart of the Central Valley. It is the state capital of California. The city is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River.
8	Oakland	430,666	404,155	Alameda	Oakland is a major West Coast port, and is home to several major corporations including Kaiser Permanente and Clorox, as well as 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	Santa Ana	357,754	339,130	Orange	County Seat of Orange County. Home to the famous Bowers museum, Discovery Science Center, and John Wayne Airport.
10	Anaheim	353,643	335,288	Orange	Located in Orange County, California, Anaheim is the second most populous city in the county (after Santa Ana) and second largest in terms of land area; it is known for its theme parks, sports teams, and convention center.
11	Bakersfield	338,952	321,078	Kern	Bakersfield sits at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, an especially petroleum-rich area of California.
12	Riverside	304,051	295,357	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^{citation needed}.
13	Stockton	292,133	287,037	San Joaquin	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	237,595	219,318	San Diego	A southern suburb of San Diego, Chula Vista is just seven miles from the Mexican border. One of the most economically and culturally diverse cities in Southern California.
15	Fremont	218,128	202,867	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	217,686	207,500	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	Modesto	211,536	202,967	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.
18	Glendale	207,902	197,176	Los Angeles	Glendale is the focal point of the Verdugo Mountains subregion, and is well-known for hosting a large Armenian-American community.
19	San Bernardino	204,800	198,580	San Bernardino	San Bernardino is the second largest city in the Inland Empire area of California, and the county seat of San Bernardino County, the largest county in geographic area in the 48 contiguous states.
20	Huntington Beach	203,484	192,620	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 consistent quality surf. It is home to the surfing world championships every summer.
21	Oxnard	200,004	185,717	Ventura	One of only a handful of cities in the state that is the largest in its county, but not the county seat.
22	Fontana	190,356	184,984	San Bernardino	Home of the California Speedway
23	Moreno Valley	188,537	190,871	Riverside
24	Oceanside	183,095	169,684	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.
25	Rancho Cucamonga	178,904	171,176	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.
26	Santa Clarita	177,641	169,500	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.
27	Garden Grove	175,618	165,796	Orange
28	Ontario	174,536	171,691	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.
29	Pomona	163,683	152,699	Los Angeles	Home of the Los Angeles County Fair, the largest fair in the United States.
30	Santa Rosa	163,436	155,796	Sonoma	The center of one of the northernmost Mexican land grants, created as a town in the early 1850s, and officially incorporated as a city in 1868, 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, technology industry, and other light industry, as well as tourism. It has the dubious fame of suffering the most destruction during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, which destroyed the entire downtown. Notable residents have included famed horticulturalist Luther Burbank, and Peanuts cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, and the surrounding Wine Country have served as the setting for many well-known films, including Alfred Hitchcock's personal favorite, Shadow of a Doubt.
31	Salinas	153,948	143,640	Monterey	Salinas is known for being an agricultural center as well as being the hometown of famed writer and Nobel prize laureate John Steinbeck.
32	Hayward	153,104	142,061	Alameda
33	Palmdale	152,622	143,197	Los Angeles	Largest city of the California deserts, 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.
34	Pasadena	151,576	143,080	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.
35	Corona	150,416	149,923	Riverside
36	Torrance	149,717	140,820	Los Angeles	Torrance, 21 square miles, is situated 11 miles south of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), 8 miles north of the Port of Los Angeles, 30 miles west of Disneyland and bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the west with 1.5 miles of beach. Incorporated in 1921, its the eighth largest city in Los Angeles County and the 35th largest city in California. Torrance averages 12.55 inches of rainfall per year.⁵
37	Escondido	147,514	137,103	San Diego	Situated in San Diego's north county, Escondido is home to the San Diego Wild Animal Park.
38	Lancaster	145,875	145,469	Los Angeles
39	Elk Grove	143,885	133,003	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 almost 150,000 inhabitants. The population has grown so much that Elk Grove has surpassed all of the other suburbs in size and inhabitants. About 15 miles 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.
40	Orange	142,708	136,392	Orange
41	Sunnyvale	140,450	132,109	Santa Clara
42	Fullerton	138,610	131,868	Orange
43	Thousand Oaks	130,209	123,091	Ventura
44	Simi Valley	126,902	120,543	Ventura	Home of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
45	El Monte	126,464	121,791	Los Angeles
46	Visalia	125,971	121,040	Tulare	Visalia is the oldest city between Stockton and Los Angeles. It is also one of the fastest growing cities in California.
47	Concord	125,864	121,160	Contra Costa
48	Vallejo	121,435	114,729	Solano	Vallejo was from the 1850s until closure in the 1990s, home of the Mare Island U.S. Naval Shipyard, one of the most important naval shipyards in the country. It was also very briefly the capital of California in the early 1850s. It is the largest city in Solano County.
49	Inglewood	119,053	112,714	Los Angeles
50	Santa Clara	118,830	110,200	Santa Clara
51	Costa Mesa	117,178	110,080	Orange
52	Roseville	115,781	112,660	Placer
53	Downey	113,715	107,587	Los Angeles	Hometown of Tampa Bay Rays star Evan Longoria.
54	West Covina	112,890	105,790	Los Angeles
55	Victorville	112,097	110,318	San Bernardino
56	San Buenaventura (Ventura)	109,946	103,706	Ventura
57	Norwalk	109,817	102,982	Los Angeles
58	Burbank	108,469	102,968	Los Angeles	Media Capital of the World
59	Daly City	108,383	101,514	San Mateo
60	Berkeley	108,119	101,371	Alameda
61	Carlsbad	106,804	96,374	San Diego
62	Fairfield	105,955	103,683	Solano	Fairfield is the county seat of Solano County, but not the largest city in the county, which is Vallejo.
63	Richmond	105,630	102,285	Contra Costa
64	Temecula	105,029	97,100	Riverside	The heart of Southern California Wine Country. Goes by the motto of "Old Traditions, New Encounters".
65	Antioch	102,330	100,219	Contra Costa
66	South Gate	101,914	96,640	Los Angeles
67	Murrieta	101,487	97,918	Riverside	Formerly just a small town outside of Temecula, Murrieta has become one of the fastest growing cities in the state.
68	Mission Viejo	100,725	94,461	Orange
69	Rialto	100,260	98,700	San Bernardino
70	Compton	99,769	93,851	Los Angeles
71	El Cajon	99,637	92,718	San Diego
72	Carson	98,047	92,366	Los Angeles	Location of the Home Depot Center, housing both of the Major League Soccer teams for Los Angeles, namely: the Los Angeles Galaxy & Chivas USA.
73	San Mateo	97,535	92,256	San Mateo
74	Vista	97,513	91,144	San Diego
75	Vacaville	97,305	92,219	Solano
76	Clovis	96,868	92,318	Fresno
77	Westminster	94,294	88,975	Orange
78	Santa Maria	93,225	86,356	Santa Barbara
79	Santa Monica	92,703	87,664	Los Angeles	Home of the world famous Santa Monica Pier.
80	Redding	91,561	90,201	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 also happens to be the world's largest sundial.
81	Santa Barbara	90,893	86,093	Santa Barbara
82	Hawthorne	90,145	84,305	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.
83	Alhambra	89,501	85,953	Los Angeles
84	Hesperia	88,479	85,883	San Bernardino
85	Chico	88,228	83,791	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.
86	Citrus Heights	88,115	84,432	Sacramento
87	Whittier	87,128	82,267	Los Angeles
88	Newport Beach	86,738	79,661	Orange
89	Livermore	85,312	80,188	Alameda
90	Chino	84,742	83,031	San Bernardino
91	San Marcos	84,391	79,114	San Diego
92	Buena Park	84,141	79,379	Orange	Home of Knott's Berry Farm.
93	Lakewood	83,636	78,444	Los Angeles
94	Indio	83,675	84,443	Riverside
95	San Leandro	83,183	77,880	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.
96	Tracy	82,107	79,196	San Joaquin
97	Baldwin Park	81,604	77,380	Los Angeles
98	Merced	80,985	77,160	Merced
99	Chino Hills	78,971	73,879	San Bernardino
100	Napa	78,791	74,547	Napa