California is the most populated U.S. state, with a population of 39.54 million as of 2024. It has people from a wide variety of ethnic, racial, national, and religious backgrounds.

California is the most populated sub-national entity in North America. If it were an independent country, California would rank 38th in population in the world. It has a larger population than Australia.^[6] Its population is one third larger than that of the next most populous state, Texas.^[7] California surpassed New York to become the most populous state in 1962.^[8] California's population growth has slowed dramatically in the 21st century.^[9][10] In 2010, the state's five most populous counties were Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties, with Riverside County having the largest percentage increase in population.^[11] The largest metro areas in California, as of 2010, are Los Angeles, San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, San Diego, Riverside-San Bernardino, and Sacramento.^[12] From 2006 until 2016, the state lost a net population of about 1 million people from emigration to other states,^[13] yet the population of the state continued to grow due to immigration from overseas and more births than deaths.^[14]

As of 2006, California had an estimated population of 37,172,015, more than 12 percent of the U.S. population. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 1,557,112 people (i.e., 2,781,539 births minus 1,224,427 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 751,419 people. Immigration resulted in a net increase of 1,415,879 people, and migration from within the U.S. resulted in a net decrease of 564,100 people. California is the 13th fastest-growing state. As of 2023, the total fertility rate was 1.52 which is on par with Canada.^[15]

The center of population of California is located at 35.463595°N 119.325359°W / 35.463595; -119.325359 in Kern County, near the town of Shafter.^[16]

No single ethnic group forms a majority of California's population, making the state a minority-majority state. Hispanics (of any race) are the largest single ethnic group in the state.^[17] Spanish is the state's second most widely spoken language. Areas with especially large Spanish speaking populations include the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the California-Mexico border counties of San Diego and Imperial, and the San Joaquin Valley. Nearly 43% of Californian residents speak a language other than English at home, a proportion far higher than any other state.^[18]

In 2011, there were an estimated 2.6 million undocumented immigrants residing in California.^[19] California is home to almost 25% of the country's undocumented population, making up 6% of California's residents overall. Two-thirds of California's undocumented population have lived in the state for more than 10 years.^[20]

About 52% of California's public school students in the 2011–2012 school year identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino and 26% as non-Hispanic Caucasian. The following ethnic groups made up the rest of the statewide public school student body: Asians (11%), African Americans (7%), Native Americans (0.7%), and Pacific Islanders (0.6%). Students of mixed race made up about 2% of the public schools. Hispanics have made up the majority of the state's public schools since 2010. Los Angeles Unified School District, the largest school district in California and second largest in the nation, is 73% Hispanic, 10% African American, 9% non-Hispanic Caucasian, 6% Asian, 0.5% Native American, and 0.4% Pacific Islander.^[21]

In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, California's population fell for the first time in history, resulting in its first loss of a congressional seat.^[22] The state's population declined again in 2021 and 2022.^[23] The main causes of the decline are: a high mortality rate, a declining natality, a fall in international migration and emigration to other states.^[23] The latter phenomenon is sometimes called California exodus.^[24] Population loss was noticed in 34 out of 58 counties in the state between January 2020 and July 2022.^[25] According to the California Department of Finance, the state's population will stay constant at around 39.5 million until 2060.^[26][27] In 2020-2021 California saw an annual loss of 398,795 people while between 2021-2022 there was a lower loss in population at 113,649 people.^[25] The slowing down of population loss as seen in 2022 would continue into 2023 seeing a loss of 75,423 people making it a 0.2% population loss from the previous year as compared to 2022 having a 0.3% loss in 2023.^[28]

According to the 2020 U.S. census, California's population was 34.7% Non-Hispanic White, 5.7% African American, 1.5% Native American, 16.1% Asian, 0.4% Pacific Islander, 13% Two or more races, and 39.4% Hispanic or Latino of any race.^[34] Hispanics are the largest racial/ethnic group in California. Non-Hispanic Whites have decreased from about 76.3 – 78% of the state's population in 1970^[35] to 36.6% in 2018.^[33] While the population of minorities accounts for 100.7 million of 300 million U.S. residents, 20% of the national total live in California (2008).^[36][37]

According to 2018 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, California's population was 59.5% White (36.6% Non-Hispanic White), 14.7% Asian, 13.8% Some Other Race, 5.8% Black or African American, 0.8% Native American and Alaskan Native, 0.4% Pacific Islander, and 5.1% from two or more races.^[33] with others identifying as Some Other Race (34.4%), Multiracial (5.1%), Black (0.7%), American Indian and Alaskan Native (1.1%), Asian (0.5%), and Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (0.1%).^[33] By ethnicity, 39.3% of the total population is Hispanic-Latino (of any race) and 60.7% is Non-Hispanic (of any race).^[33]

California has the highest number, and second highest percentage, of Asian Americans by state. Only Hawaii has a higher Asian American percentage than California. While New Mexico and Texas have higher percentages of Hispanics, California has the highest total number of Hispanics of any U.S. state. Hispanics are the largest single ethnic group in the state.^[38]

The largest named ancestries in California are Mexican (25%), German (9%), Irish (7.7%), English (7.4%), and Italian (5.8%);^{[citation needed]} there are 65 other ethnicities with sizable populations in California including Arabs, Albanians, Australians, Brazilians,^[39] Canadians, Haitians, Iranians/Persians, and Somalis as examples. Both Los Angeles and San Francisco have large numbers of residents with English, French, Italian, Iranian/Persian,^[40] German, Russian, and Scandinavian ancestry.^[41]

California has the largest population of White Americans in the U.S., totaling 21,453,934 residents as of the 2010 census. The state has the fifth largest population of African Americans in the U.S., an estimated 2,299,072 residents. California's Asian population is estimated at 4.9 million, approximately one-third of the nation's estimated 15 million Asian Americans. California's Native American population of 285,512 is the third-largest of any state, behind Arizona and Oklahoma.^[42]

Since the 2000 U.S. census, California has been known as the second state in U.S. history (after Hawaii since its statehood in 1959) to have a non-White majority when excluding Hispanic Whites, and since 2014, the first state to have a Latino plurality surpass other racial/ethnic groups. The media discussed the possibility of Latinos becoming a majority in the 21st century,^[43] for the first time since statehood (1850) when massive immigration of Anglo-Americans during the California Gold Rush of 1848–1849 reduced Spanish speakers to 20% of the population.

Note: Births in table do not add up, because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving a higher overall number.

• Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

As of 2010, 20,379,282 of California residents age 5 and older spoke English at home as a primary language, while 10,672,610 spoke Spanish, 1,231,425 Chinese (which includes Cantonese and Mandarin), 796,451 Tagalog, 559,932 Vietnamese, 367,523 Korean, 192,980 Armenian, and Persian was spoken as a main language by 203,770 of the population over the age of five. In total, 14,644,136 of California's population age 5 and older spoke a mother language other than English.^[101]

Comparatively, according to the 2007 American Community Survey, 42.6 percent of California's population older than five spoke a language other than English at home, with 73 percent of those also speaking English well or very well, while 9.8 did not speak English at all.^[102]

California had the highest concentration of Vietnamese or Chinese speakers in the United States, second highest concentration of Korean or Spanish speakers in the United States, and third highest concentration of Tagalog speakers in the United States.^[102] California was historically one of the most linguistically diverse areas in the world, and is home to more than 70 indigenous languages derived from 64 root languages in 6 language families.^[103][104] A survey conducted between 2007 and 2009 identified 23 different indigenous languages of Mexico that are spoken among California farmworkers.^[105]

Over 200 languages are known to be spoken and read in California, with Spanish used as the state's "alternative" language. California has more than 100 indigenous languages, making California one of the most linguistically diverse areas in the world. All of California's indigenous languages are endangered, although there are now efforts toward language revitalization.^{[note 1]}

The official language of California has been English since the passage of Proposition 63 in 1986.^[106] However, many state, city, and local government agencies still continue to print official public documents in numerous languages.^[107] For example, the California Department of Motor Vehicles offers the written exam for the standard C Class driver's license in 31 languages along with English, and the audio exam in 11 languages.^[108] The politics of language is a major political issue in the state, especially in regard to language policy controlling the teaching and official use of immigrant languages.

As a result of the state's increasing diversity and migration from other areas across the country and around the globe, linguists began noticing a noteworthy set of emerging characteristics of spoken English in California since the late 20th century. This dialect, known as California English, has a vowel shift and several other phonological processes that are different from the dialects used in other regions of the country.^[109]

California has the most Catholics in the United States, ahead of New York State, as well as large Protestant, non-religious, Jewish, and Muslim populations. It also has the largest Latter-day Saint population outside of Utah.^[111] The state also has a large American Jewish community, the second-largest in the nation, as well as largest in the western U.S., and third-largest in the world, mainly concentrated in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, and Palm Springs.^[112]

California also has large Muslim communities in west Los Angeles, San Diego, Beverly Hills, Orange County, Santa Clara County, and the Modesto area.

Most Catholics in California are of Mexican, Central American, Irish, German, Italian, Vietnamese, Filipino, and Korean ancestry. The population of Catholic Californians is rapidly growing due to the influx of Latin American, Asian, African, and Middle Eastern Christian immigrants. In the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Sunday Mass is celebrated in 42 different languages representing more than 30 ethnic groups from around the world.^[113] The Catholic dioceses of Orange, Los Angeles and San Jose have the largest Catholic diaspora of Vietnamese Catholics in world outside of Vietnam, estimated to be about 250,000-300,000 Catholics out of a total Vietnamese California population of 1.3 Million.^[114]

The largest Christian denominations in California in 2000 were the Catholic Church with 10,079,310; the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with 529,575; and the Southern Baptist Convention with 471,119. Jewish congregations had 994,000 adherents, or 3% of the Californian population.^[115]

Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintō, Sikhism, and Taoism were introduced in part by Asian immigrants. As the 20th century came to a close, forty percent of all Buddhists in America resided in Southern California. The Los Angeles metropolitan area has become unique in the Buddhist world as the only place where representative organizations of every major school of Buddhism can be found in a single urban center.^{[116][verification needed]} The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Northern California and Hsi Lai Temple in Southern California are two of the largest Buddhist temples in the Western Hemisphere.

California has the highest Hindu population in the United States,^[117] most of them Indian Americans.^[118] Many of the prominent Hindu temples including the Malibu Hindu Temple are located in California.

With more than 1,232,000 Jews as of 2015, California has the highest number of Jews of any state except New York.^[112] Many Jews live in the West Los Angeles and (esp. west) San Fernando Valley regions of Los Angeles.^[119] Historic synagogues include Beth Jacob Congregation (Beverly Hills, California), Congregation B'nai Israel (Sacramento, California), and Temple Israel (Stockton, California). Chabad,^[120] The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute,^[121] and Aish HaTorah are active in California.

California also has the largest Muslim community in the United States, an estimated one percent of the population, mostly residing in Southern California. Approximately 100,000 Muslims reside in San Diego.^[122]

California has more members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Temples than any state except Utah.^[123] Latter-day Saints (Mormons) have played important roles in the settlement of California throughout the state's history. For example, a group of a few hundred Latter-day Saint converts from the Northeastern United States and Europe arrived at what would become San Francisco in the 1840s aboard the ship Brooklyn, more than doubling the population of the small town. A group of Latter-day Saints also established the city of San Bernardino in Southern California in 1851.^[111] According to the LDS Church 2014 statistics, 780,200 Latter-day Saints reside in the state of California, attending almost 1400 congregations statewide.^[111]

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is headquartered in Loma Linda in San Bernardino county 60 miles east of Los Angeles, where the church members form the majority of the town's population. The SDA church there has a university, a free hospital and a TV station (3ABN or the 3 Angels Broadcasting Network). The town is known for a large number of centenarians.^[124]

A Pew Research Center survey revealed, however, that California is less religious than the rest of the United States: 62% of Californians say they are "absolutely certain" of the belief "in God or a universal spirit", while in the nation 71% say so. The survey also revealed that 48% of Californians say religion is "very important", while the figure for the U.S. in general is 56%.^[125]

• Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph in San Jose
• Mission San Diego de Alcalá
• Hsi Lai Temple in Los Angeles County
• South Indian style Malibu Hindu Temple
• North Indian style BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Chino Hills
• Los Angeles California Temple

According to Pew Forum there are less than 1% Wiccans and other pagans in state with Central Valley Wicca and Reclaiming Wicca as key.^[126]

California's income distribution is quite broad compared to the country's as a whole; its proportions of residents with no income and of residents with income over $100,000 are both higher than the national average. This broad distribution combined with high housing and living costs give California an abnormally high poverty rate. The Census Bureau's Supplemental Poverty Measure, calculated by comparing household income to a locally-adjusted poverty threshold, reports that 20.7% of California's population has income insufficient for their basic needs, as compared to 12.9% for the U.S. as a whole.^[127] This calculation of income includes the benefits of California welfare programs such as food stamps and earned income tax credits — without these, the state's poverty rate would be 28%.^[128]

The trends of low income in California are complex; from 1975 to 2014, real (inflation-adjusted) incomes have alternated between rises and sharp declines. These incomes have decreased overall for those outside the top 20th percentile, with the bottom 20th percentile seeing an average decline of 1% per year during that period.^[129][130] Correspondingly, the percent of Californians with income below their poverty threshold has risen and fallen, but has on average increased by a tenth of a percentage point per year.^[131]

Increasing income inequality has had many effects on Californians' lives, including on life expectancy, which can be taken as a proxy for health or even general welfare. A study conducted by Clarke et al.^[132] related life expectancy to socioeconomic status (SES, an index including income and other related factors), finding that Californians in the top 20% by SES live on average six years longer than those in the bottom 20% (81 years, compared to 75). This disparity becomes even more pronounced when intersected with race: White males in the top 20% live 14 years longer than African American males in the bottom 20% (for females, the difference is 10 years).^[132]

The complexity of the state's low-income trends were visible when, in response to growing Chinese and Spanish-speaking populations, the city of Oakland implemented the nation's first policy of recruiting bilingual applicants for public-facing city jobs in 2001. This increased the employment of Hispanic and Chinese bilinguals throughout the public workforce, but also lowered (monolingual) Black employment.^[133]

• California locations by race
• California statistical areas
• California exodus
• Demographics of the United States