California · 468 places

Cities and towns in California

Short answer

California has 468 incorporated places of 1,000 or more people, home to 32,969,289 residents in 2024. Los Angeles is the largest with 3,878,704.
Places 1,000+
468
5,000+
429
Share of state
84%

Where the places are

Each dot is a place of 1,000+, sized by population. The median place of 5,000+ is Pacifica with 37,056 people, and the smallest in that group is Calistoga with 5,022. 161 of the 429 places of 5,000+ grew between July 2020 and July 2024. No place crosses a county line.

Largest places in California

  1. 01Los Angeles3,878,704
  2. 02San Diego1,404,452
  3. 03San Jose997,368
  4. 04San Francisco827,526
  5. 05Fresno550,105
  6. 06Sacramento535,798
  7. 07Long Beach450,901
  8. 08Oakland443,554
  9. 09Bakersfield417,468
  10. 10Anaheim344,561
  11. 11Stockton324,975
  12. 12Riverside323,757
  13. 13Irvine318,683
  14. 14Santa Ana316,184
  15. 15Chula Vista278,546
  16. 16Santa Clarita229,159
  17. 17Fremont228,192
  18. 18San Bernardino224,775
  19. 19Modesto220,592
  20. 20Fontana218,455
July 1, 2024 estimates, Census Vintage 2024.

Fastest growth among places of 5,000+: Paradise (+79.1%), Lathrop (+40.3%), Shafter (+13.4%). Largest decline: Susanville (-24.6%).

All 468 places, A to Z

Places under 5,000 people have short profile pages that search engines do not index. Figures are July 1, 2024 estimates.

A

B

C

D

F

G

I

K

N

O

T

U

V

Questions people ask

How many cities and towns are in California?

The Census Vintage 2024 subcounty estimates list 468 incorporated places of 1,000 or more people in California, and 429 of 5,000 or more. Smaller towns and census-designated places are not counted here.

What is the largest city in California?

Los Angeles, with 3,878,704 residents on July 1, 2024.

Which California town grew fastest since 2020?

Among places of 5,000+, Paradise grew fastest from July 2020 to July 2024, +79.1%, to 9,114.

What share of California lives in incorporated places?

84%: 32,969,289 of the state's 39,431,263 residents live in the 468 places listed. The rest live in smaller towns, census-designated places or unincorporated land.

Sources and data as of

Data as of: Census Vintage 2024 population estimates, 2024 Gazetteer land area and internal points, SAIPE 2023 median household income.

  1. 01Census Vintage 2024 subcounty population estimates
  2. 02Census 2024 Gazetteer, places

How every number is computed: methodology. Spotted a wrong figure? Report an error.