List of municipalities in California

According to the 2020 United States Census, California has 39,538,223 inhabitants and 155,779.22 square miles (403,466.3 km2) of land.

[2] After the Mexican Cession of 1848, the California Gold Rush brought worldwide attention to the area.

The growth of the movie industry in Los Angeles, high tech in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, tourism, agriculture, and other areas in the ensuing decades fueled the creation of a $3 trillion economy as of 2018[update], which would rank fifth in the world if the state were a sovereign nation.

California law makes no distinction between "city" and "town", and municipalities may use either term in their official names.

[8] According to the 2020 United States Census, the largest municipality by population and land area is Los Angeles with 3,898,747 residents and 469.49 square miles (1,216.0 km2).